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K I A N A 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


B Y 



JAMES JARVES, 


Author of “ History of the Hawaiian Islands,” “Parisian” and “ Italian Sights,” 
“ Art-Hints,” &c., &c. 



BOSTON AND CAMBRIDGE : 

JAMES MUNROE,AND COMPANY. 

LONDON: 

S. LOW, SON, AND COMPANY, 

Ludgate Hill, 


M DCCC LVir. 



. '"'i 






PREFACE. 


Strictly speaking, there is no such thing as Fiction. 
Every emotion, thought, or action embodied into litera- 
ture has been human experience at some time. We can 
imagine nothing within the laws of nature, but what has 
had or may have an actual existence. A novel, therefore, 
but personifies the Truth. In giving a local interest to 
its actors, it introduces them to the reader through the 
medium of sympathies and passions, common to his own 
heart, of reason intelligible to his own mind, or of moral 
sentiments that find an echo in his own soul. Its success 
depends upon the skill and feeling with which the author 
works out his characters into a consistent whole — creat- 
ing a simple and effective unity out of his plot, locality, 
and motive. Still every reader likes to feel that the per- 
sons whose fates warm his interest in the pages of a 
romance, actually lived and were as tangibly human as 
himself, and his degree of interest is apt to be in ratio to 
his belief that they were real personages. I am glad, 
therefore, to be able to assure my readers of the following 
facts. 

In my youth I spent several years in different parts of 
the Pacific Ocean, but chiefly at the Sandwich or Ha- 


6 


PREFACE. 


waiian Islands. While engaged in procuring materials for 
their history, — first published in 1843, — I was much 
struck with a tradition relating to their history by Euro- 
peans, two and a half centuries before Cook so accidentally 
stumbled upon them. Briefiy it was this — 

Eighteen generations of kings previous to Kamehameha 
I., during the reign of Kahoukapa, or Kiana, there arrived 
at Hawaii, a white priest, bringing wdth him an idol, which, 
by his persuasion, was enrolled in the calendar of the 
Hawaiian gods, and a temple erected for its service. 
The stranger priest acquired great infiuence, and left a 
reputation for goodness that was green in the memories 
of the people of Hawaii three centuries later. Another 
statement adds that a vessel was wrecked on the island, 
and the captain and his sister reached the shore, where 
they were kindly received and adopted into the families of 
the chiefs. 

Without enlarging here upon the tradition, and the 
light my subsequent researches threw upon it, I will sim- 
ply state that I became convinced that a Spanish priest, 
•woman, and several men were rescued from a wreck, 
landed and lived in Hawaii, and acquired power and 
consideration from their superior knowledge, and for a 
while were even regarded as gods. Some of them inter- 
married with the aborigines, and their blood still exists 
(or did recently) among certain families, who pride them- 
selves greatly upon their foreign origin. 

Other traces of their existence are perceptible in the 
customs, ideas, and even the language of the natives. 


PREFACE. 


which last has a number of words strikingly analogous to 
the Spanish of the same meaning. Captain Cook found 
among them a remnant of a sword-blade and another bit 
of iron. They were not strangers to this metal, and as 
no ores exist in their soil, they could have derived their 
knowledge solely from foreign intercourse. 

Soon after the conquest of Mexico, Cortez sent three 
vessels upon an exploring expedition to California. After 
sailing as far as 29® north, one was sent back to report 
progress. The other two held on and were never heard 
from. Why may not one of these be the vessel that was 
wrecked on Hawaii ? The winds would naturally drive 
her in that direction, and the date of the expedition 
agrees, so far as can be made out from Hawaiian chronol- 
ogy, with the time of the first arrival of white men on 
that island. Indeed, at that period of maritime discovery, 
white men could come from no other quarter. For my 
part, I believe that a port of Mexico was the starting 
point of the wrecked party; a conjecture which derives 
some plausibility from the fact, that, when the natives 
offered the whites bananas and other tropical fruits, they 
were familiar with them, which would be the case, if they 
came from Tehuantepec, from whence Cortez fitted out 
his vessel. 

To absolutely identify the white strangers of Hawaii 
with the missing ships of Cortez, is not now possible. 
But the interest in them, left thus isolated from civiliza- 
tion amid savages, upon an island in the centre of the 
then unknown ocean, is peculiar. Especially have I 


8 


PREFACE. 


always been curious to trace the fate of the solitary 
white woman, — a waif of refinement cast thus on a 
barbarous shore, — and of the priest too, — to learn how 
far their joint influence tempered the heathenism into 
which they were thrown, or whether they were finally 
overcome by paganism. 

Twelve years ago, while amid the scenery described in 
this volume, and the customs and traditions of the natives 
were fresh in my mind, I began to pen their history ; but 
other objects prevented my going on, until the past win- 
ter, when leisure and the advice of friends, pleased with 
the subject, prompted its completion. The descriptions 
of the natural features of this remarkable islahd, of the 
religion, customs, government, and conditions of its abo- 
rigines, as well as the events in general, are as faithful 
transcripts, in words, of the actual, to my personal know- 
ledge, as it is in my power to give. 

In saying thus much for the facts, I am in duty bound 
to add a word for the ideas. Prefaces, some say, are 
never read. It may be so. But for myself, I like the 
good old custom, by which as author, or reader, I can talk^ 
or be talked directly to. It is the only way of familiar 
intercourse between two parties so essential to each other. 
I shall therefore speak on. 

Every tale is based upon certain ideas, which are its 
life-blood. Of late, fiction has become the channel by 
which the topics most in the thought of the age, or which 
bear directly upon its welfare, reach most readily the 
popular mind. But few authors, however, can count 


PREFACE. 


9 


upon many readers, and I am not one of them. Still 
what a man has to say to the public, should be his earnest 
thought frankly told. No one has a monopoly of wisdom. 
The most gifted author cannot fill the measure of the 
understanding. The humblest may give utterance to 
ideas, that, however plain to most thinkers, may through 
him be the means of first reaching some minds, or at 
least suggesting thoughts that shall leave them wiser and 
happier. If what he say, has in it no substance of 
truth, it will speedily come to naught. But on the 
contrary, if it contain simply the seeds of truth, they 
will be sure to find a ripening soil somewhere in human 
hearts, and bud and blossom into peace and progress. 
With this motive I have spoken freely such views as 
have been prompted by my experience and reflections. 
They are not much to read, nor much to skip. Which- 
ever the reader does, he carries with him my warmest 
wishes for his welfare, and the hope that if he find in 
the Story nothing to instruct, it may still be , not 
without the power “ to amuse.” 

Casa Dauphine, 

Piazza Maria Antonia, 

Florence^ 1857. 










KIANA: 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


CHAPTER I. 


“ They that sail on the sea tell of the danger thereof ; and when 
we hear it with our ears, we marvel thereat.” — Ecclesiasticus, 
xliii. 24. 

“ The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew, 

The furrow followed free ; 

We were the first that ever burst 
Into that silent sea.” 

Ancient Mariner. 


To be alone on the great ocean, to feel besides 
the ship that bears you, nothing human floats 
within your world’s horizon, begets in a thoughtful 
mind a deep solemnity. The voyager is, as it 
were, at once brought before the material image 
of eternity. Sky and sea, each recedes without 
limit from his view ; a circle above, a circle around, 
a circle underneath, no beginning, no ending, no 
repose for the sight, no boundary on which to fix 
the thought, but growing higher and higher, wider 
and wider, deeper and deeper, as the eye gazes and 
finds no resting point, — both sea and sky suggest, 
with overpowering force, that condition of soul 
which, knowing neither time nor space, forever 


12 


KIANA : 


mounts Godward. In no mood does Nature speak 
louder to the heart than in her silence. When her 
thunders roU through the atmosphere and the hills 
tremble, the ocean surges and the wind wails ; 
when she laughs through her thousand notes from 
bird or blossom, the heart either exults at the strife, 
or grows tender with sympathy in the universal 
joy. But place man alone on the ocean, shrouded 
in silence, with no living thing beyond his own 
tiny, wooden world for companionship, he begins 
to realize in the mighty expanse which engulfs 
his vision his own physical insignificancy. The 
very stars that look down upon him, with light 
twinkling and faint, from the rapidity with which 
they have sent their rays through distant firma- 
ments to greet his vision and tell him there are 
countless worlds of greater beauty and higher per- 
fection for his spirit to explore ; even they deepen 
his feeling of littleness, till, finally, his soul recovers 
its dignity in the very magnitude of the scenery 
spread for its exploration. It knows that all this 
is but a portion of its heritage ; that earth, air and 
water, the very planets that mock its curiosity, are 
ministering spirits, given with all their mysteries 
to be finally absorbed into its own all-penetrating 
nature. 

Few, however, can so realize their own spirit- 
power, as to be calm in a calm. A motionless 
ship upon a silent ocean has a phantom look. 
The tall, tapering spars, the symmetrical tracery of 
ropes, the useless sails in white drooping folds, the 
black body in sharp relief in the white light, added 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


13 


to the ghost-ship, — the twin of the one in the 
air, — in dimly-shadowed companionship, hull up- 
permost and her masts pointing downwards in the 
blue water, make up a spectral picture. As day 
after day passes, overhead a hot burning sun whose 
rays blind without rejoicing, no ripple upon the 
water, no life, because neither fish nor bird can 
bear the heat ; the very garbage thrown overboard 
floating untouched, as if destruction rejected her 
own ; the night mantling all in darkness, making 
silence still more oppressive, — for even the blocks 
refuse their wonted creaking ; — all this consumes 
the body like rust slowly eating into iron. Nature 
faints and man sinks into her lassitude. He feels 
deserted of his own mother. She that bore him 
mocks him. Perchance a cold grey sky, pregnant 
with gloom, shuts down all around him, reflecting 
itself in the ocean which looks even greyer and 
colder. The atmosphere grows barren of light. 
No wind comes. Silent, motionless, and despairing, 
the vessel lies upon the waters; not slumbering, 
for every nerve within is quickened to unnatural 
keenness to catch a sign of change. It comes not. 
The seamen’s hearts, too worn to pray or curse, 
daily sink deeper within them, like masses of lead 
slowly finding their way through the fathomless 
depths of the ocean. A sail, a floating spar, a 
shark or devil fish, anything that were of man or 
beast, a shrub, the tiniest sea-snail or wildest bird, 
would be welcomed as Columbus hailed the float- 
ing signs that told to his mutinous crew a coming 
shore. 


2 


14 


KIANA : 


But none come. Weeks go by thus. Is man a 
god that his soul cannot fail within him! Must 
he not sympathize with the surrounding inanition! 
Welcome battle, welcome storm, welcome all that 
excites his energies, though it consume blood and 
muscle; be the mind racked and the body tortured; 
still man marches triumphantly on to his object. 
But take away opposition, reduce him to nothing- 
ness, convince him that action begets no result, 
that will is powerless, and he is no longer man. 
Not to act is conscious annihilation. But Nature 
never wholly deserts. She leaves hope to cheer 
humanity with promises that sooner or later must 
be fulfilled. There is, however, no condition so 
destitute of all that makes man Man as helpless 
solitude, when mind and body alike without action, 
stagnate and forget their origin. 

Such was the condition of the crew of a vessel 
about the year 1530, lying motionless on the waters 
of the Pacific, not far from 25P north latitude and 
140^ west longitude. The bark was of that frail 
class, called caravel, scarcely fitted to navigate a 
small lake, much less to explore unknown seas. 
Yet, in those days European navigators did not 
hesitate to trust their lives and fortunes, on voyages 
of years’ duration, to craft which would now be con- 
demned even for river navigation. The one of 
which we speak was of about seventy tons burden, 
wdth a high poop, which gave a comfortable cabin, 
a half deck and a forecastle, raised like the poop, 
sufficient to give partial shelter to the numerous 
crew. One mast with a large lateen sail rose from 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


15 


the centre of the vessel, but her progress was aided 
as much by oars as by canvas. At the masthead 
was a castle-shaped box, in which the seamen 
could comfortably remain, either as lookouts, or for 
defence. This gave to the spar a clnmsy, top- 
heavy look, wholly inconsistent with our modern 
ideas of nautical symmetry. 

It was plain that the caravel had been long from 
port, and had suffered much from stress of weather. 
Her sides were rusty grey; barnacles clung so 
thickly below and above the water line, as to 
greatly interfere with her sailing qualities ; the 
seams were open, and as the hot sun poured upon 
them, pitch oozed out. A tattered and threadbare 
sail hung loosely from the long yard which sway- 
ed from the masthead. The cordage appeared 
strained and worn to its last tension. Iron rust 
had eaten through and stained the wood in all 
parts of the hull. If paint had ever existed, the 
elements had long since eaten it up. Everything 
indicated long and hard usage. Yet amid all there 
were signs of seamanship and discipline ; for bad 
and shattered as were rope, spar, and sail, every- 
thing was in its place and in the best order its con- 
dition permitted. 

Within the cabin was a weather-beaten young 
man, well made, of a strong and active frame, 
features bronzed by long exposure to varied cli- 
mates, and fine soft hair, somewhat light in color, 
which even now would have curled gracefully, had 
it been properly cared for. He lay ill and panting 
on the transom, with his face close to the open 


16 


KIANA : 


port, gasping for air; not that he was seriously re- 
duced, for it was readily seen that fatigue, anxiety 
and scanty fare had more to do with his weak con- 
dition than actual disease. Near him was a rude 
chart of the coasts of Mexico and adjacent sea, 
which he had long and carefully, and, to all appear- 
ance, fruitlessly studied. It was covered with a laby- 
rinth of pencil marks, indicating a confused idea both 
of navigation and his present position. He had been 
recently poring over it, and at last had thrown it 
aside as utterly worthless, or at all events as afford- 
ing him no clue by which to extricate himself from 
his present situation in a sea wholly unknown to 
the navigators of his day. 

Near him sat a priest, whose thoughtful, benevo- 
lent face was far from expressing despair even 
under their present circumstances. He talked to the 
young man of the necessity of trusting themselves 
to the guidance of Providence, and sought to cheer 
him by his own hopeful serenity and untiring 
action. 

Around the deck and under such shelter from 
the heat as they could contrive, the crew reclined 
in mournful groups; some with faces hardened 
into despair, and others careless or indifferent. A 
few only manifested a spirit of pious resignation. 
The strongest seldom spoke. Their looks were as 
sullen as their tempers were fierce, and if they 
opened their mouths, it was to mutter or curse, 
daring Nature to do her worst. Nothing but their 
physical debility prevented frequent violent explo- 
sions of the pent-up irritability arising from their 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


17 


helpless state. Disease and starvation were rapid- 
ly adding fresh horrors to their situation. One 
seaman lay on the hard deck with a broken thigh, 
in which mortification had already begun, groaning 
and piteously asking for water. In his thirst he 
would have drank more in one hour than was allow- 
anced to the entire crew for a day’s consumption. 
Several others, whose fevered tongues rattled from 
dryness, were also tossing and moaning on the rough 
planks, too weak or hopeless to join in the fruitless 
appeal of their dying comrade. Such water as they 
had was clotted with slime, and impregnated with 
foul odors. Their meat was all gone, and the little 
bread left, musty and worm-eaten. 

All wore the look of having long struggled with 
adverse fortune. They were men whose element 
was made up of hardship and adventure; men, 
who, forgetting in one hour’s better fortune all 
that had brought them to their present, condition, 
would not hesitate to embark again on a similar 
errand. Here they were, bowed in spirit, haggard 
in features, their hardy limbs lying torpidly about, 
indifferent to death itself, but worn to worse than 
death by drifting for weeks about under a pitiless 
sun on an unknown sea, which the oldest of them 
had never heard of, and which seemed to them as if 
they had arrived within the confines of stagnant 
matter, where they were doomed to rot in body 
and decay in mind, coffined in their vessel, whose 
slow destruction kept even pace with their own. 

Five of their number had already died and been 
cast overboard. Gladly would they have seen 
2 * 


18 


KIANA : 


sharks gorge themselves on their late shipmates, as 
that would have shown them that the water still 
contained life. But no carrion fishes came near 
them. With faces upturned and glassy eyes fixed 
upon the caravel, those corpses floated about them 
so long that the crew were at last afraid to look 
over the bulwarks for fear of seeing what they 
desired so much to forget. 

But humanity had not altogether abandoned 
them. The frailest in body among that vessel’s 
company proved the strongest in faith and action. • 
A woman was of their number. Consuming even 
less of their provisions than the others, she reserved 
herself, and in great measure her allowance of food, 
for those whose necessity she considered as greater 
than her own. At all hours was she to be seen 
moving quietly about, speaking hope and courage to 
one, giving to eat or drink to another, or fanning 
the hot brow of a half delirious sufferer, while 
she talked to him of a home into which no suffer- 
ing could enter, if the heart once were right. Espe- 
cially was she devoted to the young man in the 
cabin. He evidently relied even more upon her 
than upon the priest, and imbibed fresh strength 
and hope from her voice and example. The priest 
was equally unwearied with his bodily aid and 
spiritual counsel to the crew. Thus it was that 
amid the most trying of the experiences of ocean- 
life, despair did not altogether quench hope. 

Yet what situation could be more cheerless! 
One altogether similar in the history of navigation 
had never occurred before, and by the hurried course 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


19 


of discovery and civilization, would not again oc- 
cur. They were literally alone, drifting on an 
unknown, motionless sea. No winds stirred its 
surface ; no birds flew by ; no fishes came up from 
beneath their keel ; there was no change except 
from the burning day to the feverish night, which 
brought with it no cooling dew, nor any sign to 
excite a sailor’s hope. Although they could not 
know the fact, not a vessel beside theirs for thou- 
sands of miles east or west, north or south, floated 
on that ocean. Driven thither against their wills, 
they were the first to explore its solitude. It was 
true that continents and archipelagoes thickly 
peopled were around them, but for all they knew, 
they were being carried by an irresistible fate to 
the boundary of nature, whence they would drop 
into a fathomless void. They were therefore liter- 
ally alone. 


20 


KIANA : 


CHAPTER II. 

“ Suddaine they see from midst of all the maine, 

The surging waters like a Mountain rise, 

And the great Sea, puft up with proud Disdaine, 

To swell above the measure of his guise. 

Threatening to devoure all that his Powre despise.” 

Spenser. 

The caravel in question was more than ordinarily 
frail, having been hastily equipped with two others 
from the port of Tehuantepec in Mexico, at the 
order of Cortez for the exploration of the continent 
about and above the gulf of California. It is true, 
an experienced seaman named Grijalva had been 
put in command, and he had been so far successful 
as to have reached the twenty-ninth degree of north 
latitude. Thence one vessel had been sent back 
with an account of his progress. The other two 
continued their explorations northward, with the 
hope of arriving at that kingdom so rich in precious 
metals, of which they had heard so many rumors 
from the recently conquered Mexicans. Creeping 
coastwise slowly upward, many fine bays with 
shores rich in verdure met their view, but of gold 
they found no traces, and of inhabitants, with the 
exception of an occasional glimpse of a naked 
savage, who ran terrified away, they were equally 


A TKADITION OF HAWAII. 


21 


unsuccessful. Yet they were navigating waters, 
the tributary streams of which were literally bedded 
in gold. But neither the time nor people to which 
this treasure was to be disclosed had arrived. 
Consequently, Grijalva, with his eyes blinded to 
what was constantly within his reach, saw nothing 
but a vast wilderness, which promised neither 
wealth nor honor as the reward of further explora- 
tion. Reluctantly, therefore, he turned his course 
southward. That night a severe gale came on, 
and both caravels were driven far from their course 
towards the southwest. It was in vain with 
such unseaworthy vessels that Grijalva sought to 
regain the coast. The wind blew him still farther 
into unknown seas, which daily became more tem- 
pestuous, until his storm-shattered vessel sank in 
sight of her scarcely better conditioned consort, 
engulfing all on board. 

This sight for the moment chilled the hearts of 
the surviving' crew, and paralyzed their exertions. 
But Spanish seamen and the soldiers of Cortez 
were too accustomed to death in every form, to 
long despair. They redoubled their efforts, and by 
bailing and cautious steering, keeping the vessel 
directly before the wind, weathered the gale, which 
the next day was succeeded by the fatal calm, 
already described. 

There were on board some twenty persons, vete- 
rans in the hardships and conflicts of the new 
world. Their commander was the young man that 
lay exhausted in the cabin. He spoke to the 
woman who now sat with his head on her lap. 


22 


KIA^TA : 


while she gave him such meagre refreshment as 
their famished bark afforded. His name was Juan 
Alvirez. Hers was Beatriz. They were brother 
and sister. He had been a volunteer with Narvaez, 
and after his defeat enlisted under Cortez, and was 
present at the siege of Mexico, and all the subse- 
quent expeditions of his commander, to whom 
he was greatly attached. This attachment was 
founded in a congeniality of temperament, which 
led him to emulate the heroic daring and unflinch- 
ing perseverance of Cortez, while his more powerful 
intellect was equally an object of his profound ad- 
miration. With the same thirst for adventure, the 
same chivalric courage, the same devotion to the 
Catholic worship, the same contempt for the rights, 
feelings or sufferings of others so that his own 
desire was gained, devout and loyal, with deep 
affections, easily moved to anger or kindness, child- 
like in his impulses, yet strong in action, Alvirez in 
most points, except judgment, might be considered 
a Cortez on a small scale. Indeed, his intimacy 
with him, begun when Alvirez was not twenty 
years of age, had, by strengthening the natural traits 
of character so similar to his own, quite merged 
him into his commander. His individuality was 
shown chiefly in executing what Cortez ordered, 
and in blind though gallant acts of devotion, upon 
the spur of emergency, in which prudence or gen- 
eralship were not often considered. 

Alvirez was frank and social. These qualities 
joined to his tried bravery made him the favorite of 
all. Even the Mexicans who had so often suffered 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


23 


from his arm, learned to distinguish and admire in 
him that generous fearlessness to all danger, which 
pitiless to them, was self-devoted to his own cause, 
and stooping to no artifice in action, went direct to 
its mark, like the swoop of a hawk upon its quarry. 
With them he was known as Tonatiuh, ‘ the child 
of the sun,’ from his burning glance and stroke as 
quick as light. His thirst for adventure keeping 
him in continual action, he gladly volunteered to 
command the soldiery in the expeditions which 
Cortez sent to explore and subdue the unknown 
regions to the north of Mexico. 

Not yet in the prime of life, we find this Spanish 
cavalier, faint from exertions which had wearied 
out all on board, lying half helpless, grieving over 
the fate of the brave seamen who had so long and 
skilfully kept the little squadron afloat. 

His sister Beatriz shared many of these traits 
with her brother. She was as brave, self-devoted, 
ardent, and impulsive as he, but true womanhood 
and a benevolence of heart which instinctively led 
her to seek the happiness of those with whom she 
was, made her in conduct an altogether different 
being. Deeply imbued with the Roman Catholic 
faith, while she sedulously conformed to the de- 
mands of its ritual, its principles tempered by her 
own native goodness and purity, reflected through 
her peace and good will towards all men. Juan 
was all energy and action. His will flowed from 
desire like a torrent, rending asunder its natural 
barriers, and spreading mingled ruin and fertility in 
its course. Her will was deep, calm, and sure, 


24 


KIAliTA : 


without noise, with no sudden movement, but like 
the quiet uprising of an ocean-tide, it steadily rose, 
floating all things safely higher and still higher on 
its bosom, until they attained its own level. All 
about her felt its movement, wondered at the effect, 
and welcomed the cause. 

Her influence over rude men was not the result 
of charms that most attract the common eye. The 
oval of her head was faultless. Her hair was of 
ethereal softness, and seemed to take its hue and 
character from her mind rather than from nature’s 
pigments. Considering her race, her complexion 
was rare, being blonde. Warmth, firmness, decis- 
ion, and much heart-suffering, were denoted by her 
mouth. Her eyes spoke at will the language of her 
soul, or kept its emotions as a sealed book. Yet 
they were not beautiful in the strictly physical 
sense, being in repose somewhat lifeless in color, 
but when they talked, an illumination as if from 
another sphere overspread her countenance, and 
surrounded her entire person with an atmosphere 
radiant with spirit emotion. So gentle, yet so pen- 
etrating was her speech, that it seemed as though 
she breathed her language. To the listener it was 
as if some delicious strain of music had passed 
through him, harmonizing his whole nature. This, 
no doubt, was owing rather to her purity and ear- 
nestness, as they found language and a responsive 
echo and all that was true and good in others, than 
to any wonderful endowment of voice. Her vital 
organization being acute and generous, she was 
extremely susceptible to all life emotions, yet so 


A TKADITION OF HAWAII. 


25 


well-balanced was her character, which was the 
result of a varied experience, garnered into wisdom, 
that came more from intuition than out of the cold 
processes of reason, that rarely was she otherwise 
than the same quiet high-toned woman, as persua- 
sive to good by her presence, as faithful to it by her 
example. None, therefore, asked her age, debated 
her beauty, or questioned her motives. All, even 
the mercenary soldier, the profane seamen, and the 
untutored Indian, felt themselves better, happier 
and safer, for having her among them. Her sad, 
sympathizing face, her winning speech, generous 
action, and noiseless, graceful carriage, were to them 
more of the Madonna than of the earth-woman. 
Yet she was strictly human, differing from others of 
her sex only in being a larger type of God’s handi- 
work, with fuller capacities both to receive and 
give, whether of suffering or joy. The key to her 
character was her invariably following her own 
noble instincts, sanctioned and aided as they were 
by the principles of her faith. In this respect, she 
was fortunate in possessing for her confessor the 
priest who was with them. He was a Dominican 
monk, Olmedo by name, and although attached by 
education to his theology, was of enlarged and 
humane mind, and felt that love rather than force 
was the only sure principle of conversion of the 
heathen to Christianity. 

Olmedo had come from Spain with the father 
of Alvirez, who held a post of trust in Cuba. 
Thence he followed Cortez to Mexico, and on re- 
peated occasions had done much to soften his 
3 


26 


KIANA : 


fanaticism, and inspire him with a more humane 
policy towards the unhappy Indians. When Al- 
virez set out on the present expedition, his sister 
and Olmedo determined to accompany him ; the 
former from her love for Juan, and the latter from 
attachment to both, and the hope that he might 
find a field for missionary labor, in which the 
principles that animated him and Beatriz might 
have free scope, unneutralized by the brutality 
and excesses of the miscalled soldiers of the Cross. 

The other members of the caravel’s company 
need just now no special mention, except that 
although bred in the Cortez school of blood and 
rapine, they were, almost unconsciously to them- 
selves, influenced much not only by the high toned 
courage and unflinching perseverance of their com- 
mander, but still more by the purer examples and 
earnest faith of Beatriz and Olmedo ; each of whom, 
as opportunity offered, sought to deepen this im- 
pression, and to persuade them that there was 
truer treasure on earth than even the gold for which 
they lavished their blood, and better enjoyment to 
be found than in the brutal indulgence of base pas- 
sions. There was, in consequence, in most of them 
a devotion to their leader and confessor, loftier and 
more sincere than the force of discipline, or the 
ordinary inspiration of their religion, because 
founded on an appeal to their hearts. For Beatriz 
the rudest one among them would willingly have 
shed all his blood to save a drop of hers. 

“ May the Holy Mother receive their souls,” 
somewhat abruptly exclaimed Juan, who had been 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


27 


musing upon the fate of Grijalva. His sister did 
not reply, except by a deep sigh, feeling that silence 
best expressed her sympathy with her brother’s 
ejaculation. 

Juan and those of the crew who now remained 
alive, exhausted by their sufferings and labors, soon 
sunk into a sound sleep. Olmedo and Beatriz 
were alone left awake, and avoiding by a common 
instinct the past, they talked only of their present 
situation and probable future. There was nothing 
in their external conditions to authorize hope for 
maiden or priest ; yet a reliance on divine care so 
completely filled their hearts, that although no 
light penetrated their ocean-horizon, each felt and 
spoke words of encouragement to the other. 

While they talked, light breezes began in vari- 
able puffs to stir the sails. As the wind increased, it 
grew contrary to the course for Mexico, yet it was 
balmy, and as the sea under its influence began to 
rise and fall in gentle swells, the air became cooler, 
and the sky was gradually interspersed with fleecy 
clouds which occasionally shed a little rain. 

Awakening Juan and the crew, Olmedo pointed 
to the clouds, which, driving before them, seemed to 
beckon to some unknown haven beyond. “ Our 
deliverance has come,” exclaimed he ; “ let us lose 
no time in welcoming the breeze.” 

“We cannot reach Mexico with this wind,” said 
Juan glancing aloft; then, as his spirits revived with 
the brightening prospect, he gaily added, “ Let us 
follow whither it blows ; new, fields of adventure 
may repay us for those we have lost.” 


28 


KIANA : 


“ My son,” solemnly replied Olmedo, “ we are a 
feeble band, but trusting in Him who ordereth all 
things, we may accept with gratitude the auspi- 
cious breeze ; not to carry us to new scenes of 
slaughter, but in the hope that He who has pre- 
served us alike from the storm and calm, reserves 
us for a more noble mission.” 

“ What say you, Beatriz, is father Olmedo 
right ? ” asked Juan, more to hear her voice than as 
desiring her opinion, which he knew would conform 
to her confessor’s. 

“ Dear brother, our father is right. Orphans that 
we are, let us abandon ourselves to the guidance 
of the Holy Virgin and the saints. They will lead 
us to the work they have for us to do.” 

To the followers of Alvirez, any course which 
promised a new excitement or conquest was wel- 
come. They therefore bestirred themselves with 
such alacrity as their famished condition permitted. 
In a short time the caravel was going before the 
wind with all the speed she was capable of, while 
the crew, excepting the necessary watch, again 
betook themselves to the repose they so greatly 
needed, and which, sustained as it now was by 
hope, did much to revive their strength. 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


29 


CHAPTER III. 

“ My dream is of an island place 
Which distant seas keep lonely; 

A noble island, in whose face 
The stars are watchers only. 

Those bright still stars ! they need not seem 
Brighter or stiller in my dream.*’ 

Elizabeth Barrett Browning. 

In the nineteenth degree of north latitude, and 
one hundred and fifty-five degrees west, lies a large 
and important island, one of a group stretching for 
several hundred, miles in a north-westerly direction. 
At the date of this tale, it was wholly unknown, 
except to its aborigines. Situated in the centre of 
the vast North Pacific, not another inhabitable land 
within thousands of miles, it was quietly biding its 
destiny, when in the circumnavigating advance of 
civilization westward to its original seat in the 
Orient, it should become a new centre of commerce 
and Christianity ; and, as it were, an Inn of nature’s 
own building on the great highway of nations. 

Up to this time, however, not a sail had ever 
been seen from its shores. Nothing had ever reach- 
ed them within the memories of its population, to 
disprove to them that their horizon was not the 
limits of the world, and that they were not its sole 
possessors. It is true, that in the songs of their 
3 * 


30 


KIANA : 


bards, there were faint traces of a more extended 
knowledge, but so faint as to have lost all meaning 
to the masses, who in themselves saw the entire 
human race. 

Hawaii, for such was the aboriginal name of the 
largest and easternmost island, was a fitting ocean- 
beacon to guide the mariner to hospitable shores. 
Rising as it does fourteen thousand feet above the 
level of the sea, snow-capped in places, in others 
shooting up thick masses of fire and smoke from 
active volcanoes, it could be seen for a great distance 
on the water, except, as was often the case, it was 
shrouded in dense clouds. Generally, either the 
gigantic dome of Mauna Loa, which embosomed 
an active crater of twenty-seven miles in circum- 
ference on its summit, which was more than two 
and a half miles high, or the still loftier, craggy 
and frost-clad peaks of Mauna Kea, met the sight 
long before its picturesque coast-line came into 
view. As usually seen at a long distance, these 
two mountain summits, so nigh each other and yet 
so unlike in outline, seemingly repose on a bed of 
clouds, like celestial islands floating in ether. This 
illusion is the more complete from their great 
elevation, and coming as they do with their lower 
drapery of vapor, so suddenly upon the sight of the 
voyager, after weeks, and, as it often happens, 
months of ocean solitude. 

Nowhere does nature display a more active lab- 
oratory or on a grander scale. At her bidding, fire 
and water here meet, and, amid throes, explosions, 
upheavings and submergings, the outpourings of 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


31 


liquid rock, the roars of a burning ocean, hissing, 
recoiling and steaming at the base of fiery moun- 
tains, which amid quakings and thunders shoot up 
high into air, not only flame and smoke, but give 
birth to other mountains, which run in fluid masses 
to the shore forming new coast-lines, she gradually 
creates to herself fresh domains out of the fathom- 
less sea, destined by a slower and more peaceful 
process to be finally fitted for the abode of man. 
For ages before the human race appeared, this 
fierce labor had been going on. Slowly decreasing 
in violence as the solid fabric arose from the sea, 
the vegetable and animal kingdom at last succes- 
sively claimed their right to colonize the land thus 
prepared for them. Nature, however, had not yet 
finished the substructure ; for although she had 
extinguished a portion of her fires and allowed the 
forests to grow in some spots in undisturbed luxu- 
riance, yet there were others still active and on a 
scale to be seen nowhere else on the globe. At 
intervals, rarer as they became older, they belched 
forth ruin, to add in time greater stability and more 
fertility to the new-formed earth. 

Even to this day, Hawaii continues in a transition 
state. The vast agencies to which the island owes 
its origin^ not unfrequently shake it to its centre, 
giving a new impetus to its geological growth. 
Sometimes it rocks, so it seems, on its centre, and 
alternately rising and falling, the ocean invades the 
land, sweeping from the coast by its fast rushing 
tide, — piled up by its velocity into such a wall of 
water as in its recoil overwhelmed Pharaoh’s host 


32 


KIANA : 


in the Red Sea, — whole villages, and carrying off 
numbers of their struggling population to perish in 
its vortex. So rapid is its reflux and over so vast a 
space, that it often leaves bare its own bed, with 
the finny tribes stranded amid its coral forests, or 
flapping helplessly on its sandy bottom. When 
this phenomenon occurs it is generally in quick 
successive waves, without previous warning, and so 
rapidly, that were it not for the amphibious habits 
of the islanders, the destruction of life would be 
great. 

The sister islands further to the west have long 
since ceased to fear earthquake or volcanic eruption. 
Their surfaces are covered with extinct craters, lined 
in general with verdure and melodious with the 
notes of birds. Around each of the group, by the 
labors of the tiniest of her creatures, as if to show 
how the feeblest agencies at her bidding can con- 
trol the strongest. Nature is slowly but surely con- 
structing a coral frame, a fit setting to her sunny 
picture. The busy little zoophyte, by its minute 
industry sets that bound to the ocean, which 
Canute in all his power was unable to do. Over 
its barriers and through its vegetable-like forms, 
trees and shrubs, blossoms and flowers, rich in every 
hue which gives beauty to the land, the rushing 
wave can pass only by giving toll to these water 
bees. They have not to seek their food, but they 
make the everlasting waters bring it to their door, 
and pour over them, in their struggle to reach the 
shore, a glad symphony of power and praise. 

On the northeast of Hawaii lies a deep bay. 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


33 


fringed with coral reefs, but in many places pre- 
senting high cliffs, precipitous masses of volcanic 
rock, rent by deep chasms, or forming valleys through 
which pour streams of fresh water along banks of 
surpassing fertility. Everywhere the soil is good 
and the vegetation profuse. Numerous cascades 
tumble from the hills in all directions, giving life 
and music to the scene. Some are mere threads of 
water lost in spray amid rainbow arches, before 
reaching the rocky basins underneath. Others 
shoot from precipices, waving, foaming torrents, 
which thunder over stream-worn rocks, far away 
beneath in sunless and almost inaccessible dells. 
Emerging from these into placid rivers, they flow 
quietly on till meeting the incoming surges of the 
ocean, which, as they struggle over the coral bars 
at their mouths, whiten their surfaces with foam 
and break into eddies and uncertain currents, cre- 
ating trying navigation for the frail canoes of the 
islanders. 

The vegetation was unequal in luxuriance. In 
some spots it pushed its verdure quite into the 
brine, which not unfrequently watered the roots of 
trees that overhung it. In others, broad belts of 
sand came between the grasses and the water. 
These glistened in the sun’s rays in contrast with 
the back ground of dense green, like burnished 
metal. Earth, the provident mother, had not, how- 
ever, so overdone her good works, as in some of the 
more southern groups to provide a meal without 
other labor than plucking. There were fine groves 
of the different species of food-bearing palms, — 


34 


KTANA : 


orchards of bread-fruit and other kinds of trees, from 
which man could derive both sustenance and mate- 
rial to clothe and house him ; but for these purposes 
and the culture of the taro plant, which was his 
main resource, no little labor and skill were neces- 
sary. 

Metals were unknown. The animal and feath- 
ered creature were scanty in species and numbers, 
and much of the island surface was still a wilder- 
ness of basaltic rock or fields of lava and cinders. 
But such was the salubrity of the climate and the 
activity of nature, that its resources for the comfort, 
and to a considerable degree of the oivilization of 
man, were making rapid development; not suffi- 
cient as yet to release him from the active exercise 
of his faculties, and thus induce a sensual repose, 
but just enough to reward him for exertion, while 
indolence was sure to beget actual want. 

The little caravel with her famished and sickly 
crew that we left in the midst of the North Pacific, 
rolling before a fresh breeze from the north-east, 
which proved to be the regular trade-wind, had 
continued her course for several days in the same 
direction. During this time, several others of the 
ship’s company had died and been cast overboard. 
Frequent showers, and the occasional catching of 
flying-fish, and now and then a dolphin or porpoise, 
did somewhat to restore the physical energies of the 
survivors, while the balmy condition of the air, the 
exhilaration of rapid motion, and the prospect of 
novel adventure, had much weight in raising the 
spirits of all. 


A TBADITION OF HAWAII. 


35 


Still there were no indications of land. The sun 
had set for the tenth time behind the same purple 
canopy of clouds; the same birds screamed and 
flew overhead; the waves rose and toppled after 
them with gushing foam, just so high and no 
higher ; the sails bellied out with monotonous ful- 
ness ; not a rope was stirred nor oar moved ; on, 
on, rolled the caravel, now dipping this bulwark, 
now that, surging aside the water and trailing it in 
her wake with the noise of a mill-course ; no vari- 
ety, except that the north-star sank lower each 
night, until the very evenness of their way, hour 
answering to hour and day to day, began to beget 
in them a feeling of doubt as to the actual exist- 
ence of land in the direction they were heading. 
This, combined with the weariness which inevitably 
steals over the senses when long at sea without 
change, led to greater carelessness in the night- 
watches. They fancied themselves borne onward 
by a fate which their own precautions could neither 
alter nor avert. Hence it was, that having worn 
out conjecture and argument as to their positive 
and probable destiny, they had on the tenth even- 
ing more than ordinarily abandoned themselves to 
chance. The day had been thicker than usual, and 
there was no light at night except the uncertain 
twinkling of stars through driving masses of 
clouds. 

All except the helmsman slept. He dozed. 
Habit kept him sufficiently awake to keep the car- 
avel to her course, but nothing more. Suddenly a 
dull, weighty sound was heard, like the roll of 


36 


KIAXA : 


heavy waters, dying slowly away in the distance. 
Another ; then another ; quicker and quicker, each 
louder and nearer. The caravel was lifted high on 
one sea and fell heavily into the trough of another, 
rolling so uneasily as to start up all on board. At 
this moment the pilot, catching the gleam of a long 
line of breakers, hoarsely shouted “ all hands, quick, 
or by the saints we are lost,” at the same moment 
putting the helm hard down to bring her into the 
wind. He was too late. The craft fell broadside 
into the rollers and became unmanageable. The 
mast snapped off close to the deck, and was pitched 
into the. water to the leeward. At the same in- 
stant a grinding, crushing sound was heard under- 
neath, as the caravel was lifted and thrown heavily 
upon the reef, breaking in the floor timbers and 
flooding her hold with water. It was too dark to 
distinguish anything but the white crest of the 
breakers all around, while their noise prevented any 
orders being distinctly heard. Indeed so sudden 
and complete was the disaster, that there was 
nothing to be done by the crew but to cling to the 
wreck and passively await their fate. Death came 
soon to a number, who were washed overboard 
and taken by the undertow seaward, where sharks 
fed upon them. Waves washed over the vessel in 
quick succession, gradually breaking her up. The 
after cabin held together longest, affording some 
shelter to its occupants. In a little while, however, 
even this was gone. All left on board were floated 
off, they knew not whither, clinging to whatever 
they could grasp, and rolled over in the surf until 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


37 


most of them became insensible. Beatriz, however, 
retained her presence of mind, and aided by the 
almost superhuman efforts of Tolta, a Mexican 
captive, was finally cast upon a soft beach, without 
other injury than a few skin bruises and the swal- 
lowing of a little water, of which she was soon 
relieved. It was too dark to learn the fate of the 
others. Dragging themselves beyond the wash of 
the breakers, in anxious suspense they awaited day- 
break to disclose more fully their situation. 


38 


KIANA : 


CHAPTER IV. 

Obedient to the light 

That shone within his soul, he went, pursuing 
The windings of the dell. The rivulet. 

Wanton and wild, through many a green ravine 
Beneath the forest flowed.” 

Shelley. 

Within the tropics the sun lights up the earth 
or leaves it, with scarcely any of the mysterious 
greeting or farewell, with which in more northern 
climates he loiters on his way, dyeing the landscape 
with subtle gradations of colors, from the fullest 
display of his mingled glories in a yellow and pur- 
ple blaze, to the faintest hues of every shade, deli- 
cate and aerial, like the gossamer robes of spirit land. 
His coming is punctual and his welcome hearty. 
Objects take their hue and shape from out of the 
night almost instantaneously, changing from black 
to golden brightness, as by the touch of magic. 
There is loss of beauty to the eye in this, though 
the earth may gain in fertility from not having to 
wait so long for the fruitful warmth. 

It was well nigh morning when the caravel broke 
up in the reef. The air was warm, and although 
the surf roared as loudly as ever, the wind had 
gone down. Soon the sun began to appear above 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


39 


the horizon. Beatriz, availing herself of its earliest 
light, began to search for her brother and his com- 
pany. Tolta was active also. Bits of the wreck 
strewed the beach, with here and there articles that 
might still be of service, but she paid no attention 
to them. Hurriedly looking about her, hoping yet 
fearful, she espied a body half-buried in the sand. 
In an instant she was beside it, but it was one of the 
crew, stiff and cold. There was no time to spare 
for a corpse, so she continued her search for the 
living. An object half hidden amid low shrubbery 
caught her eye. Hastening thither, she saw the 
well known white robe of Olmedo. With a cry of 
joy she rushed to it, and then breathlessly knelt at 
his side, placing her hand upon Olmedo’s heart 
and her mouth close to his, to detect any signs of 
life. He was warm and breathing. His eyes slow- 
ly opened, and recognizing Beatriz, for a moment 
he seemed to have forgotten the wreck, and to 
imagine himself still at sea. As he stretched out 
his hand with a smile, to give her his wonted wel- 
come, she seized it passionately, kissed it and burst 
into tears. 

The good father, surprised at this feeling in one 
usually so calm, yet carried away by it without 
knowing why, pressed her hand warmly in return, 
while a tear found its way also to his eye. In- 
stantly recovering her usual manner, Beatriz asked 
if he could give her tidings of Juan. 

The question recalled to Olmedo the disaster of 
the night. He had himself been thrown ashore, on 
top of a plank to which he had clung at the breaking 


40 


KIANA : 


up of the caravel, and had scrambled up the beach, 
until he reached the bushes, where he had been 
found half gone in faintness and sleep. 

At the name of Juan he started to his feet and 
said, Let us lose no time in looking for him. The 
wreck was so sudden that human efforts could not 
have availed to save any one. God may have 
brought him safely to shore as he has us.” 

They had not gone far before a well known voice 
was heard calling loudly upon Beatriz. In an in- 
stant, she was clasped in the embrace of her brother. 
He had rushed from a neighboring grove, as he 
caught sight of his sister, and now the two in their 
sudden joy clung to each other with mingled sobs 
and laughter; for being twins their active affections 
had been formed together in one maternal mould. 

Juan led the party to the spot from which he had 
emerged, where they found three of the seamen. 
It seems that Juan had reached the land, somewhat 
bruised, in company with them, and the four had 
spent their time in searching for Beatriz and others of 
the crew, but owing to the darkness of the night and 
the loudness of the surf, they were neither seen nor 
heard. Farther search assured them that they were 
the sole survivors of the wreck. Accordingly hav- 
ing secured the few objects of utility that had been 
thrown ashore from it, they began to explore their 
new home in reference to their future wants. 

The land was much broken and thickly covered 
with vegetation, some of which was familiar to 
them from being common to the ^Hierra caliente” 
of Mexico. As they wandered inland they came 


A TKADITION OF HAWAII. 


41 


to cultivated patches of yam and the sweet potato. 
Many of the fields were enclosed in well construct- 
ed stone walls. They were therefore in an in- 
habited land, and, as they thought, must soon meet 
the tillers of the soil. Bananas and other fruit 
hung within their reach. Numerous paths inter- 
sected grounds, which were divided into square or 
oblong lots, surrounded by dykes, planted with the 
broad leafed, nutricious taro, and irrigated by so 
admirable a network of water-courses as to ex- 
tort from all exclamations of surprise. Following 
up the most trodden of these paths, they came to a 
retired valley embosomed amid forest-clad hills, 
with a quiet stream flowing through its centre, and 
cultivated as far up as the eye could see, in the 
same manner as the fields through which they had 
passed. Soon houses came into view. They were 
in clusters, low, of thatch, raised on embankments, 
with stone pavements around them, or fenced in 
by rude palisades. 

Expecting each minute to meet the owners, 
they proceeded cautiously towards them. They 
were disappointed, however, for not a human being 
appeared; not even a dog or domestic animal of 
any kind; the air was still and the sun hot; there 
was no hum of insects or song of birds; the sole 
life that met their view was now and then a stray 
lizurd, that glided so quickly and silently away as 
but to make the surrounding stillness still more 
sensible. 

They began to distrust their senses. Were they 
in an enchanted land? Was their shipwreck real, 
4 * 


42 


kiAna: 


or were they dreaming? Their very voices seemed 
to die out in the universal silence. They gathered 
fruit and eat, and this reassured them of the reality 
of their appetites at least, but their own shadows 
as they lengthened before them seemed unreal, 
while those of tree and rock cast spectral forms 
about their path. 

Terrible and oppressive grew upon them the am- 
biguity of their position. Were they watched and 
being led by enchantment into the power of savage 
foes, or were they tantalized by illusions, like the 
dreams of starving men who rave of dainties ever 
within their reach ? What meant this life without 
life, harvest without reapers, houses without own- 
ers, this atmosphere without insect-hum or bird- 
song? The very waters enclosed in rocky basins, 
or overshadowed by motionless foliage, were un- 
rippled by current or wave, and repeating the land- 
scape in their still depths, made it even more unreal. 
The gracefully shaped canoes which floated upon 
them without moving, looked as if painted upon 
the surface of the stream. 

Juan’s impatient spirit chafed for want of action. 
“ By the Holy Mass, father Olmedo,” he cried, “ this 
silence beats that which made us hold our breaths 
on the night when we marched out of Mexico, 
thinking we were stealing away unseen from those 
red devils, when tens of thousands of their impish 
eyes were glaring upon us, awaiting the signal to 
drag us to their damnable temples. Well must 
you remember it, and how sad a night they made 
of it to us, after the silence was once broken by 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


43 


their infernal yells, as they dragged away so many 
of our companions to have their hearts torn from 
their living bodies, as offerings to their hideous 
war-god. Jesu Maria ! I like not this awful still- 
ness. Give me rather a hundred foes and my own 
trusty horse, that I might dash among them with 
our old battle-cry ; ” — and in the excitement of the 
moment, he sprang forward, waved his sword and 
shouted at the top of his voice, “ At them, cava- 
liers ; Santiago for Spain.” 

“ Ah ! I have started you at last,” he exultingly 
exclaimed. “ Hark ! By the Holy Virgin, they re- 
ply in our blessed language. A dozen wax candles 
for our Lady’s shrine for this, as soon as I can get 
them, — we are among friends, Beatriz.” 

‘ You mistake, Juan,” replied Beatriz. “ The 
words you hear are only your own sent back from 
the hills.” 

Juan, distrusting her more acute senses, again 
shouted, and convinced himself that it was only the 
rocks that mockingly echoed the shout. It was 
the first time since their creation, that they had 
given back a sound foreign to their own shores, 
and it seemed to linger long among them as if they 
relished its notes. Then the silence brooded over 
the scene more ominously than before, as no foes 
appeared, and no human voice sent back the de- 
fiance. Tolta’s eyes, however, glared furiously on 
Juan at his ill-timed allusion to “ La Noche Triste,” 
but it was only for a moment. Beatriz had ob- 
served the look, and in a low whisper said to Juan, 
“ Nay, brother, forbear, that night was a sad one to 


44 


KIA^A : 


many besides ourselves. Why provoke Tolta to 
revengeful thoughts ? He has done us both faith- 
ful service. For my sake respect his feelings.” 

Chafed as he was at the mysterious silence, 
which only angered him, while it awed, not through 
fear, but from the depths of its repose, the hearts of 
Olmedo and Beatriz, who found something in it 
kindred to their own position, Juan’s hasty impulse 
would have been to have vented his irritation upon 
the Mexican, but a second look from his sister 
restored his better nature, and he frankly held out 
his hand to him, exclaiming, “ Pardon my hastiness, 
Tolta, I meant not to vex you.” 

The Mexican’s features resumed their usual apa- 
thy, and no one would have supposed from them, 
that an emotion had ever touched his heart. Yet 
among them all, no eye or ear was keener than his, 
no nature more sensitive, none so quick in its percep- 
tions when touched in its own interests or passions, 
and none more patient, outwardly forbearing, and 
inwardly revengeful, for he was faithful to self-immo- 
lation in his friendship, and equally so in his enmity. 

In him love to the individual and hate to the 
Spanish race were so interwoven, that it would 
have been impossible for himself to foresee how he 
should act on any occasion which might afford 
scope for either passion. He was an Aztec by 
birth, of the race of the priesthood, young, accus- 
tomed to arms, and learned in the lore of his race; 
at heart a worshipper of their idols, though a forced 
baptism, and the necessities of a captive, made him 
nominally a Christian. Manuel was the name be- 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


45 


stowed in baptism, but I prefer to retain that of his 
birth. In him lay dormant all those qualities 
which marked the downfall of his nation. He was 
both subtle and open, gentle and fierce; in his 
domestic relations inclined to love and peace, re- 
fined and courteous ; in his faith believing in one 
God of “ perfection and purity,” yet delighting in 
smearing the altars of terrible deities with human 
gore ; a tiger in rage, and a lamb in sentiment; in 
short, combining in his own breast the instincts of 
brute and man, with no harmonizing principle to 
keep him in permanent peaceful relations with 
himself or his kind. He believed in peace and 
purity, and delighted in war and cruelty, display- 
ing to his enemies either open and irreconcilable 
hatred, or concealing revenge under the mask of 
courtesy and kindness, nay, almost servility, at the 
same time recognizing no principles of humanity or 
religion which interfered with his desires. As a 
conqueror, he was imperious ; as a captive, abject. 
But the native pride and fierceness of his race, so 
long dominant among servile tribes, ill adapted 
him to his present anomalous state, in which, while 
feeling himself partly treated as a friend, he could 
not forget the events so recent in the history of his 
race which had made him in reality a slave. Al- 
though he brooded much over his own altered 
destinies and his country’s fall, yet, while with 
Beatriz, the gentle principle in his nature became 
active, and he felt soothed and grateful. 

Concord being restored, the little party footed 
their way towards a cluster of houses of more pre- 


46 


KIANA : 


tension than the others, built upon a slight emi- 
nence, terraced on all sides with stone work, and 
having a flight of steps to the summit. This was 
walled in, and gave sufficient area to enclose quite 
a hamlet. Indeed it might be considered a fortifi- 
cation of no slight strength, where fire-arms were 
unknown. 

They proceeded cautiously up the steps, stimu- 
lated by curiosity, and thinking it better to brave 
openly and promptly any danger that might threat- 
en, as from experience they knew that no demeanor 
imposes more powerfully upon barbarians than 
courage. To this course Tolta advised them. He 
was the least affected by the singularity of their 
position, and seemed in many things to recognize 
a similarity in the degree of civilization and man- 
ner of cultivation, as well as in the articles them- 
selves, to the habits and productions of tribes on the 
southern frontiers of his own country, though the 
entire absence of precious metals, and any altars 
or edifices which indicated the worship of sangui- 
nary deities, puzzled him not a little. 

Immediately within the wall, and bordering the 
main avenue, leading to a large and commodious 
house, were many rudely carved wooden images, 
with round staring eyes and grinning mouths. Be- 
fore them were the remains of fruit, and about them 
were hung wreaths' of flowers, indicating that they 
were held in reverence. Passing between them, 
Juan felt disposed to try the temper of his sword 
upon their awkwardly shaped legs and arms for 
practice, and to express his abhorrence of what he 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


47 


termed blasphemy, quite forgetful that in his own 
land images of the Virgin and saints, some scarcely 
better executed, were common to every street and 
by every roadside, and that before them were lamps 
constantly burning and offerings of flowers placed. 

Olmedo’s better judgment checked him. “ This 
indeed may be, my son, as you say, a device of 
Satan to turn their hearts from the true worship ; 
but let us learn more before we act. These very 
offerings and idols prove the necessity of worship 
to the darkened minds of their makers, and from 
these false symbols we may by persuasion turn 
them to the holy ones of our religion. Remember 
the Master’s charge to Peter, when he would have 
taken the sword. We have had too much of that, 
and too many of your brothers in arms have already 
perished by the sword. We have been led hither 
for some wise purpose. Be peaceful and patient. 
God will disclose his design in due season. In the 
meantime, let us respect all that we see, and if the 
people of this silent valley show themselves, meet 
them with the cross aloft and open hands. We are 
too few to contend against a multitude, though 
not to persuade them by courtesy and our very 
helplessness to peace and kindness. If none ap- 
pear, let us use these good gifts, as provided by 
Him who has led us thither.” 

.luan replied : “ By my troth, father, I would clip 
off the heads of a few of these ugly monsters, if for 
no other motive than to call up a host of the evil 
spirits that possess them, that I might do them 
battle. , You speak truth, however, and I will be 


48 


KIANA : 


patient. Hurry on, my men, let us explore this 
sanctuary, and see if we can start out any one to 
give us the hospitality we so sorely need.” 

Beatriz, who feared his hasty mood, stopped him 
as he was about to enter the large house. “ No, 
Juan, let me go in first. The inmates, if any there 
be, may slumber; the presence of a maiden,” said 
she, “ will create neither alarm nor fear. I will 
enter first.” 

So saying, she drew aside the heavy cloth which 
hung at the door and went in. Olrnedo not heed- 
ing her request to Juan, entered immediately after, 
but not soon enough to anticipate Tolta, who glided 
in before him as noiselessly as a shadow. Juan 
and the others without further question followed 
after. 

They found themselves in a spacious room formed 
by white posts driven into the ground, with rafters 
springing from them, making a lofty roof, covered 
throughout with thatch, fastened on in the neatest 
manner with neatly braided cord. The floor was 
spread with white mats. Every part was scrupu- 
lously clean. There were raised divans of fine 
mats variously colored, and as pliable as the coarser 
cloths of Europe. These invited repose, though the 
pillows. being of wood covered with matting, indi- 
cated no effeminacy in the slumbers of their owners. 
Several of these cHvans were curtained by gaily 
painted cloths, differing in texture from anything 
they had seen before. It was something between 
paper and the cotton fabrics of Mexico. Garments 
of the same material, but of softer and finer quality 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


49 


hung about the walls. There were also wooden 
bowls of beautiful grain, highly polished and indi- 
cating no slight degree of mechanical skill ; also 
vessels for water, formed from the gourd plant and 
prettily ornamented ; fans, graceful plumes of crim- 
son and golden feathers, protective armor of net or 
basket work, war clubs, spears and other weapons. 
In fine, they found themselves within a house, 
which afforded all that was necessary to their wants 
in that climate, and much that showed no incon- 
siderable degree of refinement and taste, but no one 
to challenge their intrusion. 

The other houses presented a similar sight. They 
ransacked everywhere to find some one to explain 
the unaccountable desertion. There had been no 
haste. The inhabitants had not fled in fear. Every- 
thing was in its natural place and condition, just 
as were the household effects of the Pompeiians, 
when Vesuvius buried them in lava and ashes. 
But here the mystery was inexplicable. Evidently 
the desertion had not been very recent. Some 
weeks must have passed. Their own appearance, 
therefore, could not be connected with it. There 
was not an article that could properly belong to 
such domestic circles that was wanting, and all in 
the best condition and ready for use. Everything, 
however, that had life had been carefully removed. 
Even the usual tenants of deserted habitations, rats, 
were missing. The awe that almost mastered them 
in the silence of the open valley, no longer clung to 
^them in the confined walls of human make. Curi- 
osity was now uppermost. They talked freely and 
6 


50 


KIANA : 


loudly, and busied themselves with conjectures to 
solve the wonder, but with no other result than to 
weary their minds without any satisfactory answer. 

“ At all events,” said Juan, “ all but drowned in 
the morning, with our brave caravel ground to 
pieces on the rocks, and most of our poor seamen a 
prey to the fishes, here we are at night well housed, 
with food at hand, and no greedy innkeeper’s face 
to suggest a long bill. For my part let’s to sleep. 
This is much more comfortable than campaigning 
amid the rocks of Tlascalla, with the prospect of a 
copper-headed lance finding ,its way between the 
ribs before one could sleep out his first nap.” 

“ You counsel rightly,” replied the priest, “ but 
first let us unite in the Ave Maria.” So saying, he 
motioned to them to come into the open air, and 
holding up his crucifix he led the chant, while the 
others knelt and joined in. Then in the silence of 
the setting sun, there arose, for the first time in that 
unknown land, the hymn of praise to the mother of 
Jesus, woman deified and restored to her true 
nature as the hope and purifier of man, the type of 
God’s love to his own image. Softly and gently 
as Beatriz breathed the words “ Ave purissima,” 
they seemed to fill all space, and borne on the air of 
the fast coming night, stole through the valley, 
along the waters, up the hill-sides and amid the 
trees, with a melody which made all Nature listen 
and repeat in notes still more penetrating, that 
thrilling symphony of peace and purity. The even- 
ing stars looked down gladly upon the little band, 
and shedding a harmonious radiance around the 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


51 


singers, their hearts grew quiet and strong. Even 
Tolta felt its influence. As the seamen looked at 
the hideous idols about them, they fancied they 
saw them move in the night air as if they too 
bowed in worship to a spirit mightier than their 
own. It was indeed mightier ; for it was the spirit 
of Love. 


52 


KIANA : 


CHAPTER . V. 

See man from Nature rising slow to Art.” — Pope. 

Mauna Kea, the highest mountain of Hawaii, 
occupies the northern portion of the island. In 
some places it descends in grassy slopes, sufficiently 
gentle to form plains, dotted here and there with 
the many armed pandanus and the thickly leaved 
kukui trees. From the resinous nuts of the latter 
the natives obtained their torches, while its rich 
foliage and grand proportions made it equally 
valuable for timber or shade. 

At the distance of some twenty miles from the 
bay where the caravel was wrecked, there was 
a level and extensive plain fringed with forests 
of the above named trees, and backed by the snow- 
topped mountains. The front afforded a wide- 
spread view of the ocean, the breezes from which, 
added to an elevation of several thousand feet, gave 
it a climate much cooler and more bracing than 
that of the coast. On this account, and from its 
natural beauties, it had from time immemorial been, 
used by the Hawaiians as a spot on which to cele- 
brate public games or sacred festivals. Its verdant 
and carefully irrigated soil afforded food for the 
numerous priests who belonged to the different 


A TRADITION OP HAWAII. 


53 


“ heiaus ” or temples to be seen within its limits. 
These were built of basaltic stones, some of which 
were of great size, and nicely adjusted together 
without cement, according to their natural fractures. 
Within the walls, which were massive and high, 
were the houses of the priests and the shrines where 
were deposited the most sacred images. Each 
chief of importance had his family temple, around 
which had grown up villages, to accommodate him- 
self and retainers in their periodical visits 
to this upland region. 

For a month previous to the wreck, 
many thousands of the islanders had been 
gathered under their chiefs to engage in 
their annual athletic games. Their prin- 
cipal object was, however, to celebrate the 
festival of Lono. Now Lono was one' of 
those mythic beings so common in Amer- 
ica and Polynesia, who in ages long gone 
by, after having done many notable things 
for the benefit of their fellow men, disap- 
pear like Moses in some inexplicable man- 
ner, leaving behind them a memory al- 
ways green, and a sort of implied promise 
to return with greater benefits in store. 

Indeed, heroes of this character appear 
amid much traditionary fog, in the youth 
of almost all nations. In this instance, 

Lono had killed his wife in a fit of jeal- 
ousy, instigated by a Hawaiian lago out 
of malice equal to the Venetian’s. Love’s 
reaction and contrition drove him frantic. 


5* 


54 


KIANA : 


After founding games in honor of his victim, he put 
out to sea in an oddly shaped canoe, — so the tra- 
dition runs, — promising to return some future day 
with many good things to enhance his welcome. 
Whether it was from love to him, or from faith in 
the expected increase of comforts and riches, that 
they so venerated his memory, I am at this day 
unable to say, but certain it is that a more popular 
god did not exist in Hawaii. His festival was 
therefore celebrated with peculiar unction. 

On this occasion it had been honored with un- 
usual solemnity, on account of the presence of the 
most powerful and best beloved chief of this island, 
whose territory embraced the fertile bay where the 
caravel went ashore. 

It was the custom on the most sacred festivals to 
enforce perfect silence from man and beast during 
certain rites. While the festival lasted, peace was 
universal, property respected, and under the solemn 
influence of the magic “ tabu,” human law and 
police seemed unnecessary; for there was implied 
in this simple word, if but its spirit were in- 
fringed, all the awful judgments, both temporal and 
supernatural, that the imagination could conceive, 
and even more, for the very uncertainty of the fate 
which was to attend its violation, added tenfold 
force to its terrors. The simple symbol, therefore, 
which denoted the application of the tabu to any 
object, carried with it a power such as no civilized 
code ever exercised, and which the tortures of the 
Inquisition failed to establish. 

The word tabu, as applied to religious matters, 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


55 


was a ritual iu itself. Hence when the high-priest 
set apart a certain time as tabu to Lono, the entire 
population knew what ceremonies were to be per- 
formed, and what was expected of each of them. 
During the present holidays it had been specially 
enjoined that the valley in which Kiana, a descend- 
ant of Lono and the supreme chief of more than 
half of Hawaii, resided, should be tabu from man 
and all domestic animals. For one month, pro- 
found silence was to rest upon it. Consequently, 
the inhabitants left for the uplands, taking with 
them every animal and fowl which they owned. 
It was owing to this tabu that Alvirez, when he 
explored the valley, met with such complete still- 
ness amid all the outward signs of active life. 

The very day, therefore, that Alvirez had so freely 
taken possession of the chief’s own quarters, Kiana 
with his people were on their march homeward. 
This chief, as is the aristocracy in general of Hawaii, 
was of commanding stature, some six feet six inches 
in height, finely proportioned, with round elastic 
limbs, not over muscular or too sinewy, like the 
North American Indian, but full, with a soft smooth 
skin and a bright olive complexion, which was not 
so dark, but that the blood at times deepened the 
color thereon. His face was strikingly handsome, 
being, like his body, of that happy medium between 
womanly softness and the more rugged development 
of manly strength, which indicates a well harmon- 
ized physical structure. In repose, one feared to see 
him move, lest the beauty of outline would be de- 
stroyed; but when in action, with his muscles quiv- 


56 


KIANA : 


ering with a hidden fire, his dark eyes flashing light, 
the full nostril of his race and rich sensual lip ex- 
panded with excitement, there was about him much 
that recalled the Apollo, particularly in the light 
step and eager haughty expression. His strength 
was prodigious. He had been known in battle, 
having broken his javelin, to seize an enemy by the 
leg and neck, and break his spine by a blow across 
his knees. Fierce he undoubtedly was to his foes, 
but there were in all his actions a pervading man- 
liness and generosity, joined to a winning demeanor, 
which stamped him as one of nature’s gentlemen. 
No rival of his tribe disputed his authority, because 
all felt safer and better under his rule. By moral 
influence, rather than by force, all the other chiefs 
of this portion of Hawaii looked to him as their 
leader and uriipire ; so that without any of the du- 
bious treaties and forms of a confederated govern- 
ment, they had all the advantages of one, while each 
remained free within his own territorial confines. 

By nature humane, Kiana had infused into their 
general policy and domestic life a more liberal 
spirit towards inferiors, and a less servile feeling 
towards the priesthood. He held the latter, in 
general, in small esteem, perceiving how much they 
were disposed to corrupt the simplest power of 
nature into a hideous mythology, based upon fear 
and superstition, to the intent to enrich themselves 
at the expense of the people. As he also inherited 
the office of high-priest, his influence was the more 
effective, inasmuch as he set the example of neglect- 
ing all the requirements of their pagan ritual which 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


57 


were cruel or oppressive, while the games and festi- 
vals, which tended to develop their physical powers 
and give them amusements, or to lighten their 
general labors, were sedulously cared for. His peo- 
ple were therefore happy and prosperous, and, at the 
date of this tale, exhibited an agreeable picture of 
a race blessed with a salubrious climate, a soil 
ample for all their simple wants, living almost 
patriarchally under a beloved chief, whose more in- 
telligent mind, by example rather than argument, 
had influenced them to a form of idolatry which in 
its offerings of only fruits of the earth, to its sym- 
bolized phenomena or the images of departed men 
once venerated for their moral worth, in some de- 
gree connected their souls through refining influ- 
ences with the Great Maker. 

In closing the festival, the procession was formed 
with great state and solemnity, preparatory to its 
final departure from the sacred plain. First came 
a thousand men in regular files, armed with swords 
of sharks’ teeth and slings. Each had a laurel 
wreath on his head, and a tapa mantle of bright red 
thrown loosely over his shoulders. This corps led 
the way to the noise of rude drums and other bar- 
barous music. Behind them marched a more nu- 
merous body in detached companies, armed with 
javelins and spears, and a species of wooden mace, 
which, dexterously used, becomes a formidable 
weapon. In addition, each man carried a dagger 
of the same material, from sixteen inches to two 
feet long. All wore helmets of wicker work, 
shaped like the Grecian casque and covered with 


58 


KIANA : 


various colored feathers. These helmets in connec- 
tion with their bright war cloaks, gave to the whole 
array a classical look not unworthy of the heroic 
days of Greece. The appearance of the men was 
martial, and their step firm and regular. 

In the centre of their array there was a selected 
corps of one hundred young chiefs, armed with still 
better weapons. Their costume was also much 
richer than that of the common men. They wore 
scarlet feather cloaks and helmets. Conspicuous 
amid them, borne upon a litter hung about with 
crimson drapery, sat Kiana. His helmet was sur- 
mounted by a graceful crest frorh which lightly 
floated a plume taken from the long and beautiful 
feathers of the tropic bird. Both the helmet and 
his war cloak were made of briliant yellow feathers, 
so small and delicate as to appear like scales of 
gold. These two articles were the richest treasures 
in the regalia of Hawaii. The birds from which 
the feathers are obtained, — one only from under 
each wing, — are found solely in the most inacces- 
sible parts of the mountains and ensnared with 
great difficulty. Nearly one hundred and fifty 
years, or nine generations of Kiana’s ancestors had 
been occupied in collecting a sufficient number to 
make this truly regal helmet and cloak. This was 
the first occasion he had had to display them. He 
bore himself in consequence even more royally than 
ever before ; for savage though he was, the pride of 
ancestry and the trappings of power warmed his 
blood as fully as if he had been a civilized ruler. 

Immediately behind him was borne a colossal 


A TKADITION OF HAWAII. 


59 


image of Lono. It was carved with greater skill 
than common, and surrounded by a company of 
white-robed priests, chanting the “mele” or hymn, 
which had been composed upon his disappearance. 
At particular parts the whole people joined with a 
melancholy refrain, that gave a living interest to 
the story, and showed how forcible was the hold it 
had upon their imaginations. On either side of 
Kiana, were twelve men of immense size and 
strength, naked to their waist-cloths, two by two, 
bearing the “ kahilis,'^ as were called the insignia 
of his rank. These were formed of scarlet feathers, 
thickly set, in the shape of a plume, of eighteen 
inches diameter, about ten feet high, and tipped to 
the depth of a foot with yellow feathers. With 
the handles, which were encircled with alternate 
rings of ivory or tortoise-shell, their entire height 
was twenty feet. As they towered and waved 
above the multitude, they conveyed an idea of 
state and grandeur inferior to nothing of the kind 
that has ever graced the ceremonies of the white 
man. 

The women of his household followed close to 
the chief. Their aristocratic birth and breeding 
were manifest in their corpulency and haughty 
bearing. To exaggerate their size, — which was 
partly a criterion of noble blood, — they had swelled 
their waists with voluminous folds of gaudy cloths, 
under the pressure of which, added to their own 
bulk, they waddled rather than walked. Helped by 
young and active attendants, their pace was, how- 
ever, equal to the slow progress of the procession. 


60 


KIANA 


A numerous retinue of their own sex, bearing their 
tokens of rank, fans, fly-brushes, spittoons, sun- 
screens, and lighter articles of clothing, waited upon 
them. Some of these young women were grace- 
fully formed, fair and voluptuous, with pleasant 
features, without any excess of flesh. In contrast 
with their mistresses, they might have been con- 
sidered as beauties, as, indeed, they were the belles 
of Hawaii. Small, soft hands, delicate and taper- 
ing fingers, satin-like in their touch and gentle and 
pleasant to the shake, were common among all. 



The women in general were a laughing, merry 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


61 


set, prone to affection, finery, and sensuous enjoy- 
ment. But the lower orders were workers in the 
fullest sense, the men being their task-masters, 
treating them as an inferior caste by imposing 
upon their sex arbitrary distinctions in their food, 
domestic privileges, duties, and even religious rites, 
so that their social condition was wantonly de- 
graded. Yet females were admitted to power and 
often held the highest rank. 

Besides this state there W’as a vast throng of 
attendants carrying burdens, or driving before them 
their domestic animals. The families of the sol- 
diery followed the procession, in irregular masses, 
as it defiled from the plain into the valleys that 
led towards the coast. In advancing, its numbers 
gradually lessened by the departure of warriors, and 
minor chiefs with their retainers, for their respective 
destinations. With the exception of those imme- 
diately about Kiana, all order of march soon ceased, 
and the crowd spread themselves over hill and 
valley shouting and jeering, in their good-natured 
hurry to reach their homes. The fowls cackled, the 
dogs barked. The swine with ominous grunts 
charged in all directions, upsetting impartially own- 
ers and neighbors, amid the laughter and cheers of 
the lookers on. Children grew doubly mischievous 
in the turmoil, running hither and thither, with 
frantic cries, pushing and crowding each other over 
rocks into the rapid streams, in which they were as 
much at home as the fishes. They tripped up 
their heavily laden parents in their gambols about 
their footsteps, dodging the quick blow in return 


62 


KIANA : 


with the slipperiness of eels, or repaying with 
equally noisy coin the threats of future flog- 
gings, which they well knew would be forgot- 
ten over the first meal. The more sedate vented 
their enthusiasm in deep toned songs, which, as 
they swelled into full chorus, filled the air with a 
wild music, in keeping with the scene. In forest 
and grove the birds listened and replied in musical 
notes that thrilled sweetly on the ear amid the 
medley of sounds. Nature was awake to the scene. 
From every tree and rock, out of each dell and off 
each hill-top, there came voices to mingle in the 
general jubilee. The mountain breezes poured 
their anthems in joyous harmony through branch 
and leaf. Buds and blossoms bowing before balmy 
airs, shook out their fragrance. Cascades sparkled 
and leaped, foamed and roared in the bright sun. 
Rivulets, looking in the distance like silver threads, 
stole with soothing murmurs along the plains, 
while the startled wild fowl with defiant note fled 
deeper into the forest or skulked closer in the 
thicket as the living current swept by. 

While all was thus life and motion in the up- 
lands, the solitude of the sea coast remained as 
described in the last chapter. Alvirez and his 
party had disposed themselves for the night as best 
suited their individual convenience. There was 
no lack of accommodation or retirement. Each 
might have selected a village to himself, but they 
all remained within the enclosure where we left 
them. Juan and Beatriz occupied the principal 
house. Olmedo chose one near, and the good 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


63 


man was soon dreaming of his early Castilian cell. 
Tolta watched long and late, and then stretched 
himself, mastift’-like, upon a mat at the threshold of 
the house in which Beatriz slept. The three sea- 
men,' after sundry explorations, which seemed to 
give them small satisfaction, cursed their luck in 
being wrecked on a land which had not even 
copper, much less gold or silver, in short, anything 
whatever which came up to their ideas of spoil, and 
closing their eyes, muttered their discontent even in 
their sleep. 


64 


KIANA : 


CHAPTER VI. 

How often events, by chance and unexpectedly come to pass, 
which you had not dared even to hope for.” Terence. 

Night came and went; when morning broke, 
the same stillness rested on the valley. All of its 
guests still slept the deep sleep of fatigue, except 
Tolta, who had thought he heard at intervals dis- 
tant sounds that fell mockingly upon his ear for a 
moment, and then died away into profound silence. 
Cautiously he had listened and peered into the 
deep shadows of . hill and forest, but had detected 
nothing. As often, however, as he had sunk again 
into restless slumber, the same strange sounds came 
to him. The air seemed filled with them ; voices 
and laughter, the tramp of feet and cries of animals, 
yet so vague and intermingled, that at last he 
fancied there was a spell upon the valley ; that its 
inhabitants had all perished by demoniacal violence, 
and unseen by mortal eyes, during the night, came 
back to haunt their late homes. 

This solution of the mystery was not calculated 
to reassure him, and he became more restless than 
before. Visions of his native land mingled them- 
selves with the phantom forms and sounds which 
disturbed his slumbers. His imagination vibrated 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


65 


between joy and fear, without a moment’s pause to 
give him rest. Gradually, however, as morning 
twilight came up over the hill tops, he fancied he 
detected shadowy outlines of men, sharp against the 
horizon, passing rapidly into the gloom further down. 
His terrors were then realized. He saw the ghosts 
that had so disturbed his slumbers fleeing before 
the coming day, and he shuddered as with a grave- 
chill. 

A cock suddenly crowed afar off. Tolta started 
as if the trumpet of Cortez had sounded in his ears. 
His blood tingled once more in his veins. Another 
and another crow, nearer and nearer ; the morning 
air is suddenly filled with their rival notes. A dog 
barks! Scores of dogs’ throats open in reply. 
Human voices are now distinctly heard. Groups 
of men, women, and children, can be plainly seen 
descending into the valley from the wooded up- 
lands. He watches their motions, half doubting 
his own senses. A band orderly marching ap- 
proaches the enclosure. He sees among them the 
sharp array of lances, and the brilliant colors of 
feathered casques and cloaks. They recall to him 
the warriors of Mexico, and he exults in their mar- 
tial tread and warlike aspect. His first impulse is 
to rush forward and greet them. “ Now shall 
Spanish blood again be shedj^and their false hearts 
quiver on the altars of Mexico’s war-god ! Here in 
this teocalli, shall the incense so sweet to Huitzil- 
potcli’s nostrils once more ascend ; ” and in his 
dreamy excitement he rushed forward as if to strike 
the serpent-skin drum, whose terrible signal had so 
6 * 


66 


KIANA : 


often been the death-warrant to his country’s in- 
vaders. 

Shall Beatriz die this death ? No sooner did 
she occur to him, than his fierceness passed away 
like a spent surge. All other emotions were lost 
in the desire to protect her. Stepping quietly in- 
side the house, he woke Juan and motioned him to 
follow. 

As they passed out and looked over the parapet, 
they saw considerable stir among the warriors. 
They were coming towards them at great speed, 
and evidently with no friendly intent. Their leader 
had caught sight of Tolta as he left the wall to 
awaken Juan, and indignant at what he supposed 
a violation of the tabu, by one of his people, 
ordered them to surround the enclosure, so as to 
prevent the possibility of escape, while he with a 
few followers ascended by the narrow stone steps, 
that he might slay the sacrilegious wretch with his 
own hand. 

By the time Kiana — for it was he — had nearly 
reached the platform, Juan had arrived at the 
gate- way, and at a glance took in his whole posi- 
tion. 

“ Tonatiuh can now strike the infidel,” said 
Tolta with sarcastic emphasis, as he recalled Juan’s 
unwise speech of the day before, at the same time 
pointing to Kiana, whose rapid strides would in 
another instant bring him in front of Alvirez. The 
Mexican then re-entered the house to warn Beatriz 
of their new danger. 

Juan had too often encountered as fearful odds, 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


67 


in his Mexican campaigns, to lose his presence of 
mind in a crisis like this. He called to his men to 
come to his succor, as he prepared to hold the gate- 
way against his foes, and shouting his accustomed 
battle-cry, drew his long Toledo blade, and advanced 
it in guard to await Kiana’s onset. 

This chief in his rush up the steps had not fairly 
lifted his eyes until the shout of “ Santiago for 
Spain” reached his ears. His astonishment at the 
apparition of the white man, — the gleaming steel, 
fierce eyes, thick red beard and strange tongue, the 
costume so unlike his people’s, — instead of the ex- 
pected tawny hue of his own race, brought him to 
a sudden stop. It was but for a moment, for, ex- 
cited by his previous fury at a crime so uncommon 
among his people, he saw only an offender who 
seemed aided by sorcery, and rushed at him with 
uplifted javelin, reserving his force to strike and not 
to throw. So sudden and powerful was his spring, 
that although Juan’s sword parried the blow, he 
was borne backward, and Kiana found himself on 
the platform. 

Both paused as they now better saw each other’s 
strength and strangeness. Kiana’s surprise was in- 
creased as Juan’s men, followed by Olmedo with 
crucifix in hand, came hastily up and ranged them- 
selves at his side. His own soldiers were fast 
crowding upon the platform, filled with wonder 
rather than fear, at so unexpected a sight. At his 
command they were filing off to surround Juan’s 
little band, and close in upon them, while he up- 
raised his javelin, prepared once more to tempt the 


68 


KIANA : 


skill of his strange enemy. His right foot was 
advanced, his broad chest thrown out and weapon 
poised to try again the thrust, which had never 
before failed him, when a new cry was heard and a 
new figure came forward and sprung between him 
and Alvirez. 

It was Beatriz. Her long flowing robes, dis- 
hevelled hair, her pallor and the impulsive energy 
with which she pushed aside Juan’s sword, and 
turned her eager eyes towards Kiana, fearlessly 
fronting his javelin, amazed the red-men. Their 
weapons dropped silently by their sides, as their 
chief gazed in astonishment with powerless arm 
upon the new apparition. 

Kiana’s indecision was, however, only momen- 
tary. A sudden thought had seized him. Turning 
to his followers he said, “ Behold Lono and his 
wife ! they have returned with their faces bright- 
ened, and their speech changed, from their abode in 
the sun. They have come as Lono promised, with 
new teachers and good gifts. Let us honor them 
and make them welcome.” As he spoke every 
weapon was laid upon the earth, and every head 
was bowed. Kiana alone stood erect, asserting his 
dignity even in the presence of a returned god. 

Whatever his native sense might have suggested 
in regard to the origin of the group before him, his 
sagacity in turning the ideas of his people into their 
present channel, was safety to the one side, and 
direct benefit to himself. He recognized at once 
a superiority in their armor and habiliments, which 
evinced a knowledge far beyond that of his own 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


69 


people. They could be useful to him in many 
ways. Naturally humane and generous, after his 
first anger had cooled, he would not have harmed a 
hair of their heads. On the contrary, he and his 
people, had they found them helpless on the shore, 
would have tenderly received them. Now that he 
saw the tabu had not been violated, but that so far 
from sacrilege, an event had occurred that appeared 
to all miraculous, and confirmatory of the traditions 
of his ancestry, he determined to receive the 
strangers as his own kin, while he confirmed in the 
minds of his people the belief in their divinity. As 
the common Hawaiian’s idea of a god was of a 
being not more removed from him in power and 
intelligence than was the white man, this was an 
easy affair. 

Accordingly he gave orders that they should be 
provided with suitable retinues and lands, and ser- 
vants assigned to them as of his own family. 

His decision was proclaimed by the public her- 
alds. Great were the rejoicings and shouts through- 
out the valley, that Lono and his wife had come 
back and were to protect them from their enemies, 
and enrich them by new arts and gifts. The sim- 
ple people believed and prostrated themselves 
deferentially before Juan and Beatriz. Their per- 
sons and those of the others were tabued or made 
sacred. No follower of Kiana’s dared lift his hand 
toward them, except to do them service or honor. 
The change from the peril of immediate massacre, 
to being worshipped as divine personages, was so 
striking, that while they realized its advantages. 


70 


KIANA : 


they could not, before they had acquired the easy 
tongue of Hawaii, fully comprehend its cause. The 
seamen, however, readily domesticated themselves, 
taking wives, and were soon placed on the footing 
of petty chiefs. 


A. TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


71 


CHAPTER VII. 

** In countless upward-stirring waves 
The moon-drawn tide-wave strives : 

In thousand far-transplanted grafts 
The parent fruit survives ; 

So in the new-born millions. 

The perfect Adam lies. 

Not less are Summer mornings dear 
To every child they wake, 

And each with novel-life his sphere 

Fills for his proper sake.’* Emerson. 

A YEAR had passed. There was no iron on the 
island, consequently no means of building a vessel, 
which could carry the exiles back to Mexico. Their 
only hope lay in the possibility that some caravel, 
equipped as theirs had been for discovery, might 
sight Hawaii and explore its coasts. But this hope 
was so faint as rarely to form a theme of discus- 
sion ; so they wisely identified themselves with the 
interests and welfare of their generous host, whose 
kindness and confidence grew with their stay. 

Kiana and Juan became firm friends. The for- 
mer had long since learned the origin and history of 
the shipwrecked party, as indeed had the more in- 
telligent among his chiefs, but their superior knowl- 
edge, and the polite deference of the nobles towards 
them, continued to keep them in the same sacred 
relation to the common people as at first. This 
was the more useful, that it gave to their efforts to 
instruct them the sanction of religion. 


72 


KIANA : 


To properly understand the condition of the 
people under the government of Kiana, it will be 
necessary to go more into detail. I have already 
observed, that their climate and soil combined that 
happy medium of salubrity and fertility, which gave 
ample returns in health and harvests, but did not 
dispense with care and labor. Hence, they were an 
active and industrious race. Nature was indeed 
a loving, considerate mother to them. As yet 
no noxious reptiles or insects infested the land ; 
ferocious animals were equally unknown ; storms 
were so rare as scarcely to be ever thought of, while 
the temperature was so even, that their language 
had no term to express the various changes and 
conditions of physical comfort or discomfort, we 
combine into the word weather. This, of course, 
was a sad loss to conversation, but no doubt a 
compensation for lack of this prolific topic existed 
somehow in their domestic circles. 



A TRADIXIOX OF HAWAII. 


73 


The households of the chiefs were in one sense 
almost patriarch ally constructed. “ My people ” 
had a meaning as significant as upon a slave plan- 
tation in America, with the difference that here 
they were only transferred with the soil. They 
were literally “ my people ; ” and as with all purely 
despotic institutions, their welfare depended mainly 
upon the character of their lords. 

In some respects there existed a latitude of de- 
portment between the chiefs and their serfs, which 
gave rise to a certain degree of social equality. 
This freedom of manner is common to that state of 
society in which the actual gulf between the differ- 
ent classes is irrevocably fixed. It grows out of 
protection on the one hand and dependence on the 
other. On Hawaii there existed a partial commu- 
nity of property ; for although all that the serf pos- 
sessed belonged to his lord, yet he had the use and 
improvement of the property in his charge, and 
besides certain direct interests in it, was protected 
by what might be termed their “common law.” 
The chief was both executive and judiciary, as ob- 
tains in all rude society. Self-interest became a 
powerful incentive to humanity, because cruelty or 
injustice towards his tenantry was a direct injury to 
his own property, and a provocation to desert his 
lands. There was also the family bond, derived 
from direct intermingling of blood, the perpetuity of 
estates and the familiarity of personal intercourse 
between the chiefs and their dependents, fortified 
by a condition of society that knew no contrasts to 
this state. The lack of other commerce than barter 
7 


74 


KIANA : 


and a partial feudal system, which required the 
people not only to furnish their own arms, but upon 
all occasions to follow their lords to the field, helped 
to develop this social union of extremes. 

All lands were in reality held in fief of the su- 
preme chief. His will was in the main the code of 
law, and indeed the religious creed ; that is, the 
ultimate appeal in all questions was vested in him. 
But public opinion, based upon old habits and cer- 
tain intuitive convictions of right and justice com- 
mon to all mankind, held even him in check ; so 
that while rarely attempting any forcible violation 
of what was understood to be the universal custom, 
he had it in his power indirectly to modify the laws 
and belief of his people. While to some extent the 
spirit of the clan existed, giving rise to devotion and 
attachments similar to those recorded of the High- 
landers of Scotland, there prevailed more extensively 
the servile feeling common to Oriental despotism. 
Numerous retainers of every grade and rank sur- 
rounded each chief, forming courts with as varied 
and as positive an etiquette as those of Europe or 
Asia. The most trivial necessity was dignified into 
an office. Thus there were “ pipe lighters,” mas- 
ters of the pipe as they might be called, masters of 
the spittoon, of the plumes or “ kahilis,” and so on, 
while there was no lack of idle clients, the “ bosom 
friends” of the chief, his boon companions, buffoons, 
pimps and every other parasitical condition in which 
the individual merges his own identity into the ca- 
prices or policy of his ruler, or by deceit, flattery, or 
superior address, seeks to advance his own selfish- 
ness at the general expense. 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


75 


In this arrangement the analogy to the courts of 
Europe is so evident as to form a striking satire 
upon them. Here we find amid petty, semi-naked 
tribes, the same masters and mistresses of royal 
robes and other useless paraphernalia ; the same 
abject crowd of parasites quarrelling and intriguing 
for honors and riches they, are too lazy or dishonest 
rightfully to earn ; the same degrading etiquette 
which exalts a knowledge of its absurdities above 
all morality, and imposes penalties upon its infringe- 
ment, not bestowed upon crime itself : in fine, a 
parody of all that in European monarchies tends to 
make human nature base and contemptible. 

Justice, however, requires me to state, that while 
the vices of the systems were allied, their virtues 
were no less in common. Despotism corrupts the 
many, but there are a choice few in all aristocracies 
who receive power and homage only as in deposit 
for the public good. Its conditions are favorable to 
their moral growth, when perhaps the rugged neces- 
sities of life, in conflicts of equality, would dwarf 
their souls to fhe common level of material wants or 
selfish interests. Besides these exceptions, as fami- 
liar to savage as to civilized life, because founded 
not upon acquired knowledge, but upon natural 
instincts, the very superiority of position begets 
desire for superior manners and external advantages. 
Thus we find in not a few of the privileged orders, 
rare politeness and outward polish, and a chivalric 
loyalty to the institution of titled aristocracy, as if 
in partaking of its birthright, it brought with it a 
loftier and more refined standard of feeling and 
action than that of the masses. 



L- - -^V. .'' 


A' 


\>i. a ' « /\ 



'5'*f w'n^;-^.^ 


I •« 


SACllIFICIAL FEAST, 





A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


77 


The best of food was reserved for the nobles. 
Their houses, bathing places, and domestic utensils, 
were tabu from vulgar use. They even used a lan- 
guage or courtly dialect unintelligible to their sub- 
jects. Their deportment was based upon the innate 
consciousness of mental superiority and long inher- 
ited authority. Rank was derived from the mother 
as the only certain fountain of ancestry. In size 
and dignity of personal carriage they were conspic- 
uous from the crowd. In short, the difference was 
so marked in Hawaii between the chief and his 
serf, as to suggest to a superficial observer the idea 
of two distinct races. 

Hospitality was a common virtue. There was 
no beggary, as there was no need of begging, for the 
simple wants of the natives were easily supplied. 
The poorest man never refused food to his worst 
enemy, should he enter his house and demand it. 
Indeed so freely were presents made, that the abso- 
lute law of “ meum and tuum,” as it exists among 
commercial races, with its progeny of judges and 
gaols, locks and fetters, had with them scarcely a 
defined meaning. Where there was so much trust 
and generosity, any violation of them met with 
prompt and severe retribution. Theft was visited 
upon the offender by the injured party, even if the 
weaker, by the seizure of every movable article 
belonging to him. In this wild justice they were 
sustained by the whole population. If the property 
of a high chief suffered, the thief was sometimes 
placed in an old canoe, bound hand and foot, and 
set adrift upon the ocean. 

7 * 


78 


KIANA : 


Kiana’s people were wealthy in their simple way. 
His reign was the golden age of Hawaii. This 
was owing mainly to his own character, which took 
delight in the happiness and prosperity of his sub- 
jects. No lands were so well cultivated as his. 
No rents were more ample or more cheerfully paid. 
His people had easy access to him. In their labors 
as in their sports he often mingled. If at times he 
was hasty or severe, it was owing rather to the 
quickened indignation of offended justice than to 
selfish passion. 

A very striking reform in the rites if not in the 
principles of their religion had been peacefully 
brought about by him. In general, the savage 
mind is more influenced by fear than by love; that 
is, it seeks by worship to avoid harm from natural 
objects, which from ignorance of their laws he con- 
siders to be evil spirits, rather than to do homage 
to those whose direct beneficence is readily recog- 
nized. But Kiana, like Manco Capac with the Peru- 
vians, taught them a less slavish ritual. Instead of 
sacrifices of animals to deities whose attributes 
solely inspired dread, he led them to rejoice in the 
bounteous seasons, the vivifying sun, the winds 
that refreshed their bodies, and the clouds that 
watered their thirsty soil. He taught them that 
the waters that bore them so pleasantly from island 
to island, were much more to be regarded lovingly, 
than the devouring shark with superstitious fear. 
Thus without fully, or perhaps in any degree re- 
cognizing the principles of the One God, the people 
were led more into harmony with those of his 


A TKADITION OF HAWAII. 


79 


works, which were suggestive of good and kind 
attributes, which they symbolized in idols, to which 
they offered chiefly the fruits of the earth. They 
were indeed idolaters, because their minds seldom, 
if ever, separated the image from the ideas, but it 
was an idolatry that made them cheerful and truth- 
ful, and not gloomy and cruel. 

Contented under their government, reposing on 
their religion, these islanders presented a picture of 
happiness, which, if we consider only the peaceful, 
joyous flow of the material life, we might well envy. 
They had no money to beget avarice, or to excite 
to the rivalries and dishonesties of trade. There 
were no more prosperous territories and bounteous 
soils for them to covet by arms ; none of superior 
force to make them afraid. Their diet was simple, 
and their diseases few. They had nothing to fear 
from famine, weather, noxious animals, or poison- 
ous insects. Their unbounded hospitality kept want 
from even the idler, — their agricultural games 
and fisheries gave ample scope for their physical 
energies, while their numerous festivals, the songs 
of the bards, and traditions and speeches of their 
historians and orators kept alive a national spirit, 
which made them proud of their origin and their 
country. 

All their myths were connected with the great 
phenomena of nature, with which their island was 
so pregnant. Hence in their minds there was a 
certain grandeur of sentiment, as well as loftiness 
of expression and suggestive imagery, that imbued 
them with the more elevating influences of the 


80 


KIANA : 


great nature around them. Then their joyous 
dances, particularly graceful and spirited among 
the children, though too expressive, perhaps, in ac- 
tion and words of the sensual instincts with the 
adults, caused the gayety of their sunny skies and 
the passionate enjoyments of their rare climate to 
come home to them with a fulness of sympathy 
that made them truly the children of material Na- 
ture. They danced, they sang, they sported, and 
they feasted, as if the present hour had had no 
predecessor, and was to see no successor. If they 
labored, it was that they might enjoy. In all their 
exercises, whether of amusement, religion or work, 
the requirements of the chiefs, or the necessities of 
their families, there was a renunciation of all but 
the present moment, mingled with so full a sense 
of sportive humor, that no civilized spectator 



A TEADITTON OF HAWAII. 


81 


could have looked unmoved upon their sensuous 
happiness, however much he might moralize upon 
its affinity to mere animal life. 

If they ever thought of death, it was merely as a 
change to a world where their enjoyments would 
be still more complete. At the worst their spirits 
would only wander about their, earthly abodes, 
vexed at the sight of pleasures which they could no 
longer participate in. The general idea the serfs 
had of heaven, was of some place specially given to 
the chiefs, into which if they entered at all, it was 
in the same servile and distinct relation to them 
as on earth. Perhaps one great cause of their con- 
tentment sprung from their implicit acquiescence 
in the power and privileges of their rulers, as of 
beings too vastly their superiors to admit even for 
a moment of any equality of fate or aspirations in 
either life. 

Such in brief were the character and condition of 
the race among which Alvirez and his party were 
now domesticated, and to all appearance for life. 
There was much to reconcile them to their new 
position, as will be shown, and especially in the 
peaceful contrast their present homes presented to 
the crime and devastation which had been their 
experience in Mexico. True, there was no gold. 
But what need of gold, when all it represents was 
provided without price ? After their long experi- 
ence of perils and hardships, to the seamen their 
present lives seemed planted in Eden. An occa- 
sional affray with some distant tribe that sought to 
spoil their more fortunate countryman under Ki- 


82 


KIANA : 


ana’s rule, gave them opportunities to exercise their 
courage for the benefit of their new friends. The 
reputation which they soon established, and the 
supernatural character with which they continued 
in some degree, still to be regarded, especially at a 
distance, contributed much towards keeping the 
frontiers quiet. Juan and Kiana, according to Ha- 
waiian custom, exchanged names, by which in 
friendship, power and property, they were viewed as 
one. But the better to appreciate the true position 
of each in reference to their new life, we must trace 
their individual experiences. 


A TKADITIOJf OF HAWAII. 


83 


CHAPTER VIII. 

“ Earth, our bright home its mountains and its waters. 

And the ethereal shapes which are suspended 
O’er its expanse, and those fair daughters. 

The clouds, of Sun and Ocean who have blended 
The colors of the air since first extended. 

It cradled the young world ” . . . 

Shkllet. 

Olmedo had not been idle during the year in his 
labors to convert the islanders to his faith. Nor 
was he without a certain degree of success, though 
very far from having instilled into them any defi- 
nite ideas of Christianity. Indeed, strange as it may 
appear at the first statement, there was in the rites 
he wished to supersede so much analogy with 
those he wished to introduce, -that the substitution 
was not easily effected. Juan, in his martial zeal 
for the Roman Catholic faith, would gladly have 
used the same arguments here as in Mexico ; that 
is, have destroyed the idols, purified the temples, and 
set up crucifixes and new images, which only they 
should worship, whether persuaded or not of their 
religious efficacy. For once, however, Spanish 
zeal was obliged to be tempered with a respect for 
the force which was not now on their side. It 
must be confessed, also, that the easy, seductive 


84 


KIANA : 


life he had led, the absence of the worst features of 
heathenism, and the generous character and shrewd- 
ness of Kiana, had not a little weakened Juan’s 
fanaticism ; so that, although conforming sufficiently 
to the ritual of his faith to keep himself within 
the pale of his church’s salvation, he had almost 
unconsciously imbibed the idea that some even 
of the virtues of Christianity might exist among 
pagans. 

Within the walled enclosure in which Juan and 
his sister resided, overlooking the sea, Olmedo had 
built a small chapel. The rude images which 
native ingenuity under his direction had carved to 
represent the Virgin and her Son, were not so un- 
like their own wooden deities, as to require any- 
thing more than an enlargement of their mythology, 
for the simple natives to have accepted them as 
their own. This of course would have been only 
adding to the sin which Olmedo wished to eradi- 
cate. The good man, however, persevered in his 
rites and doctrines, and had the satisfaction to have 
numbers of the chiefs and their attendants come to 
witness his worship. Among them most frequently 
was Kiana, but as his eyes were oftener directed 
towards kneeling Beatriz, than the holy symbols of 
the altar, it is to be presumed that another motive 
beside religious conviction swayed his heart. He 
saw that the crucifix and the images of the gods of 
the white man, as he regarded them, were very 
dear to them. Out of respect, therefore, to his 
guests, in unconscious philosophical imitation of 
Alexander Severus, when he placed statues of Abra- 


A TKADITION OF HAWAII. 


85 


ham and Christ among his revered images, Kiana 
had set up the crucifix in his domestic pantheon. 
How far he understood the teachings of Olmedo 
may be gathered from one of their not unfrequent 
colloquies upon religion. 



Mass had just been said. Olmedo had trained 
some of the more tractable youths to assist him in 
the service, which they did the more willingly, from 
perceiving that it gave them a personal importance 
to be considered of the household of Lono. The 
solemn chant of the priest in a strange and sono- 
rous tongue, the regular responses of the Spaniards, 
and their thorough devotion, the simple exhortations 
to a good life, which all present could comprehend, 
followed by the earnest eloquence of Olmedo, as he 
sought to expound in the Hawaiian tongue the 
mysteries of a faith which it had no terms correctly 
to render, all made an impressive scene. Their 
8 


86 


KIANA : 


hearts were touched even when their minds were 
not enlightened. 

It was the decline of day. The sun was pouring 
a flood of soft light over the sea, which sparkled as 
with the radiance of an opal. Kiana, Olmedo, and 
Beatriz, came out of the chapel, and reclined upon a 
pile of mats which their attendants had spread for 
them on a green knoll just beyond the reach of the 
waves. The trade wind fanned them with its cool 
breath, and sang an evening hymn amid the waving 
palms, high above their heads. A group of fisher- 
men were hauling their nets, heavy with the meshed 
fishes, to the music of a wild chant. Numbers of 
both sexes were sporting in the surf. The line of 
breakers commenced far sea-ward, in long, lofty, 
curling swells, that came in regular succession 
thundering onward to the shore, which trembled 
under the mighty reverberation. It was not a 
sound of anger, nor of merriment, but the pealing 
forth of Nature’s mightiest organ, in deep-toned 
notes of praise. There was much in the com- 
mingled glories of sound and color, the beauty of 
the shore, and the expanse of the ocean, to suggest 
an Infinite Author to the most thoughtless mind. 

Human life and happiness mingle largely with 
the scene. The bathers shout and gambol in the 
water as if in their native element. The maid- 
ens and boys, — with their parents, who in the 
frolic become children also, — dive under the huge 
combers as one after another they break and foam 
on their way to the shore. Heads with flowing 
tresses and laughing eyes are continually shooting 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


87 


up through the yeast of waters with merry cries, 
then ducking again to escape the quick coming 
wave. Rising beyond it, each plunge carries them 
further seaward, till with their surf-boards they 
reach the line of deep water. Then poising their 
boards on the very crests of the heaviest rollers, 
they throw themselves flat upon them, and skilfully 
keeping their position just on its edge before it 
topples and breaks, they are borne with the speed 
of race horses towards the shore. Now is their 
highest glee. In revelry they scream and toss their 
dark arms, which strikingly contrast with the silvery 
gleaming wave, urging their ocean steeds to still 
more headlong haste. They near the rocks. An- 
other instant, and of their gaysome forms nothing 
will remain but mangled flesh and broken bones. 
But no : the wave passes from under them, and 
dashes its salt spray upon the land barrier, and far 
away among the green bushes ; the surf board is 
cast with violence upon the shore, but the active 
swimmers avoid the shock, by sliding at the latest 
moment from their boards 
and diving seaward, again 
emerge, challenging each 
other once more to mount 
Neptune’s car. 

A more quiet scene is 
at the left. Here flows a 
gentle stream, overhung 
with deep foliage. On its 
banks, to the beating 
of drums and the quick 



88 


KIANA : 


chants of the musicians, young children are dan- 
cing. They wear wreaths of white or scarlet flow- 
ers, intermingled with deep green leaves, on their 
heads ; and on their bosoms are necklaces of bright 
shells or finely braided hair, and feather mantles 
about their waists. They are yet too young to feel 
other instincts than the gladsome and chaste 
impulses which are shown in light and graceful 
motions. Even the groups of adults seated on the 
grass, watching with interest their sports, reflect 
their innocent gayety, and become for the moment 
young and innocent themselves. 



In the stream itself, mothers are teaching their 
infants to swim. Their love for the water is appa- 
rent in every struggle. They take to it like duck- 
lings, and almost as soon as they can walk they 
can be trusted alone in that element. Now they 
turn their smiling faces towards their parents, and 
kick and cry for one more plash and still another ; 
the delighted mother encouraging its attempts with 
soothing voice and tender care. 

Such was the spectacle on which Kiana and his 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


89 


friends were gazing, after leaving the chapel and 
seating themselves by the sea-shore. 

That day Olmedo had in his discourse dwelt 
more earnestly than usual upon the doctrines of his 
creed, with the hope finally to induce Kiana to cast 
aside his mythology and accept the Roman Catho- 
lic Trinity. Here, indeed, was the stumbling-block. 
How could Olmedo hope to make an idea, which 
was in a great degree contradictory and incompre- 
hensible even to many of the cultivated and theo- 
logical minds of Europe, intelligible to the simple 
reason of the Polynesian, when by the former it was 
at least only received as a great mystery ! 

“ You tell me,” said Kiana, “ that there is one 
great God, who made heaven and earth, an all- 
wise, all-perfect, all-powerful Being. He has cre- 
ated the Hawaiian, the Spaniard, the Mexican, and 
all the races of men. I know this to be true. My 
people worship the wooden images of deities, and 
think they supply their wants. But those of us 
who have been taught the true meaning of our 
sacred songs, know full well that these senseless 
idols cannot make the taro grow, — they do not 
send us rain, — neither do they bestow life, nor 
health. My thought has always been, there is one 
only Great God dwelling in the heavens.” 

“ Your thought is indeed right,” replied Olmedo ; 
“ but God many years ago, seeing how wicked the 
world was, sent his only-begotten Son to teach it 
true religion. He was cruelly crucified by the 
people to whom he was sent, and he went up to 
heaven, where he remains to be the judge and Sa- 
8 * 


90 


KIANA : 


viour of all men. After his ascension, he sent to 
his disciples, to comfort them, the Holy Ghost. 
Now these three persons are one God, — the God 
whom we Christians worship. All your images 
are vain idols ; cast them aside, and set up in their 
places the image of the Son, Jesus Christ, and his 
holy mother, of whom he was born in the flesh, by 
the will of God, without a human father. Then 
shall you and your people be saved.” 

Had Olmedo been content to have acquiesced in 
the simple conception of the One God, he would 
have had little difficulty in persuading Kiana and 
his people to renounce the direct w^orship of idols, 
and to trust in and pray to the Great Father. 
There was something in their minds that made this 
idea seem not wholly new to them. This was 
derived in part from the mystic expressions of their 
bards, who had dimly felt this sublime truth, and in 
the testimony of the universal heart of the human 
race, which ultimately resolves all things into One 
Great Cause, however much it may overshadow 
his glory and pervert his attributes, by multiplying 
the symbols of natural powers, and make to itself 
“ graven images ” of earthly passions and foibles. 
But when Olmedo talked dogmatically of the 
‘‘ Three in One,” he left only a vague impression, 
that he worshipped either “ three male gods and one 
female, which made four,” or that there were abso- 
lutely three equal gods, which in time they called 
“ Kane, Kaneloa, and Maui.” 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


91 


CHAPTER IX. 


The rounded world is fair to see, ] 

Nine times folded in mystery. 

Though baffled seers cannot impart 
The secret of its laboring heart. 

Throbs thine with Nature’s throbbing breast. 

And all is clear from east to west. 

Spirit that lurks each form within, 

Beckons to spirit of its kin. 

Self-kindled every atom glows. 

And hints the future which it owes.” 

Emerson. 

The good missionary, for such in truth was 
Olmedo, was met at every step of his argument 
with answers, tvhich from their truth and good 
sense, he found no little difficulty in refuting, 
while he drew his weapons solely from the polemic 
armory of Rome. It matters little in what theolo- 
gical crucible the doctrines of Jesus may have been 
melted, they all become, after the process, perverted 
from their simplicity. They then require schools to 
sustain them and scholars to explain. Whereas in 
the few earnest and loving words of their Author, 
before they are petrified into creeds, they find their 
way readily into the hearts and minds of even chil- 
dren. Indeed properly to receive them we must 
become as little children. The polemical subtleties 


92 


KIANA : 


of Reason are wholly foreign to him who did 
Works in his Father’s name, that they might bear 
witness of Him. 

As often, therefore, as Olmedo sought merely 
to indoctrinate Kiana, he was met with replies 
founded on assumptions of the same character as 
his own, or on the admission of similar ideas and 
ceremonies among the Hawaiians, which from their 
analogy to the rites and thoughts of his own 
church, a more bigoted Roman Catholic missionary 
of that day would have accounted for, only by the 
blinding devices of the devil. But Olmedo’s mind 
was so largely imbued with true charity, that recog- 
nizing a common brotherhood in man, he was pre- 
pared to admit that even the heathen were not left 
wholly without some spiritual light, which was the 
seed in due time destined to grow up into Christian- 
ity. His mildness and firmness were proportionate 
to the strength of his own convictions. He was pa- 
tient also, and disclaimed forced conversions, which 
he well knew would only recoil into deeper error, 
through the avenging power of wounded liberty 
and reason. Moreover, he had no wish to substi- 
tute a new idol for an old one. In Mexico, hu- 
manity demanded the prompt abolition of human 
sacrifices and other cruel rites. Here he had no 
fanatical and crafty priesthood to oppose him ; no 
barbarous customs openly to denounce ; the people 
looked upon him as a messenger from some divin- 
ity, and listened deferentially to his exhortations. 
He saw plainly that the evils which he had to 
encounter lay deep in the temperament of the 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


93 


Hawaiian, and could only be eradicated by present- 
ing to his mind moral truths, which might gradually 
so operate upon his sensuous character, as to give 
him higher motives of action, from convincing him 
that better results and increased happiness would 
be his reward both here and hereafter. Perhaps no 
obstacle was more fatal to his success than the 
easy and hospitable nature of the Hawaiian him- 
self. Based as it was, upon the generous sponta- 
neity of his climate, modified or directed by the 
individual character of the rulers and priests, it 
found no difficulty in adding to its mythology at 
the will of the latter, or in being courteous and kind 
to all. But this quality, dependent as it was mainly 
upon the healthful action of their animal natures, 
could not be permanently counted upon. Their 
passions, like the limbs of the tiger in repose, were 
beautiful to look at, but rouse them and they were 
equally fearful. In the exercise of hospitality, they 
freely proffered their wives and daughters to their 
guests, but excite their hate or jealousy, and their 
revenge became demoniacal. With all their exter- 
nal peace and happiness, there was but faint moral 
principle. This Olmedo saw, and endeavored to 
inculcate virtue as the only basis of religious 
reform. 

On the other hand, they had often expressed 
much good-natured wonder at his refusal to take a 
wife from the most beautiful girls, which partly 
from pity at his continence, and partly to test its 
strength, they had offered him under the most se- 
ductive circumstances. His explanation of the vow 


94 


KIANA : 


of chastity required by his religion, did not aid to 
render it the more acceptable to them. It was 
beyond their comprehension that any deity should 
require such a mortification of the instincts he had 
himself created. Olmedo’s abstinence was therefore 
the more marvellous, but perceiving how scrupu- 
lously he fulfilled the obligations of his tabu, they 
gave him that respect which every sincere action, 
proceeding from a good motive, never fails to in- 
spire. By degrees they began to feel in Olmedo’s 
life a purity and benevolence, which, overlooking 
his own bodily ease or enjoyment, was untiring in 
its efforts to do them all good. In sickness, he 
watched at their bedsides with herbs to heal and 
words to cheer. In strife he was ever active to 
make peace. Their children he fondled, and upon 
their plastic minds he was better able to impress 
the idea of a One Great God and his Son’s love. 
He told them beautiful stories of that sinless 
woman and mother of Judea, the Madonna, who 
centered in herself all the human and divine 
strength of her sex, and who, as the spouse of God, 
was ever nigh to pity, soothe, and protect. He 
taught them that to forgive was better than to 
revenge; -that the law not to steal sprang from a 
better principle than fear of retaliation ; in short, 
that virtue brought a peace and joy far beyond all 
that the fullest gratifications of their merely selfish 
desires could produce. 

Much of this instruction fell among choking 
weeds. Still they were all better for having Olme- 
do among them ; and, indeed, the very fact of their 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


95 


being able in any degree to appreciate his life, 
showed the dawnings of a new light to their minds. 

Without this detail of the relative moral posi- 
tions of the priest and his semi-flock, the reader 
would not appreciate the force of Kiana’s reply to 
Olmedo’s appeal, in which the latter had given a 
brief history of the Christian religion as derived 
from the Holy Scriptures and interpeted by the 
Roman church. 

I give merely the substance of Kiana’s words, as 
it would be too tedious to follow them literally 
through the web of conversation which led to so 
full an enunciation of his own belief. The reader 
will perceive a sufficient coincidence, to suggest 
either a common source of knowledge in the ear- 
liest ages of human history or certain religious in- 
stincts in the human mind, that make isolated 
races come to practically the same religious con- 
clusions. 

“ Some things that you tell me,” said Kiana, 
“are like our own traditions. From them we learn 
that there was a time when there was no land nor 
water, but everywhere darkness and confusion. It 
was then that the Great God made Hawaii. Soon 
after he created a man and woman to dwell on it. 
These two were our progenitors. 

“Ages afterwards a flood came and drowned all 
the land, except the top of Mauna Kea, which you 
see yonder,” continued the chief, pointing to its 
snowy summit. “A few only of the people were 
saved in a great canoe, which floated a long while 
on the waters, until it rested there, and the people 


96 


KIANA : 


went forth and again built houses and dwelt in the 
land. 

“ One of our Gods also stopped the sun, as you 
say Joshua did, not to slay his enemies, but to give 
light to his wife to finish her work. 

“ We have a hell, but it is not one of torturing 
flames, but of darkness, where bad men wander 
about in misery, having for food only lizards and 
butterflies. Our heaven is bright like yours, and 
those who are admitted are forever happy. You 
tell me of a Purgatory, where the souls of those 
who go not directly to heaven or hell, remain in 
temporary punishment. Our priests tell us that 
the spirits of those who have been not very good or 
bad, remain about the earth, and that they visit 
mortals to protect or harm according to their dis- 
positions. 

“We pray with our faces and arms extended 
towards heaven, as you do. We have our fasts 
and our feasts, in memory of our good men, who 
have gone before us to happiness. We venerate 
their relics and the people worship them. 

“ You believe in One Great God and worship 
many. We do the same. What matters it by 
what names they are called. You declare a man 
whom you call Pope, to be the representative of 
God on earth ; that he can bind or loose for hell or 
heaven ; that only through belief in his church 
can any one be saved; that his authority is 
derived from dreams and visions, and prophesies 
and traditions written in a Holy Book. 

“ Our priests too have visions and dreams. Their 


A TKADITION OF HAWAII. 


97 


gods visit them. They claim authority from the 
same sources of inspiration. Your Pope is no 
doubt right to govern you as he does. His book 
is a good book for you white men; but we red men 
have no need of a book, while our priests still talk 
with their gods, as you say yours once did. 

“If no one can be saved except in believing in the 
Pope, what becomes of all the races you tell me of 
who have never heard of him? Would a good 
God punish his creatures for not knowing what 
they cannot know? No! I do not believe in this! 
The Great Spirit has given us Hawaiians some 
truth. Perhaps he has given you white men more. 
This I can believe, as I see you are so superior to 
us in knowledge, but that he created those only 
who acknowledge the Pope, to be saved, I do not 
believe ! 

“ Our priests when they quarrel talk in the same 
way. Each claims to be the favorite and inspired 
of his God, but it is because they are selfish and 
ambitious. They wish to control men by pretend- 
ing to hold the gate of Heaven. My thought is, 
that God hears and sees all men, whether they 
pray through priests or not. I am the Pope of my 
people, but I know that I cannot shut or open 
heaven to any one. I have no right to give away 
the lands of other people, because they do not be- 
lieve as I do. Some prefer one God and some 
another. 

“ You have what you call an Inquisition to pun- 
ish those who do not assent to your faith. We 
too have our ‘tabus’ which permit the same, when 
9 


98 


KIANA : 


sacrilege is done or our laws broken. If we adopt- 
ed your laws and customs, how should we be better 
off than now, when they are so alike ? 

“ If your Jesus was the Supreme God, how 
could his creatures put him to death ? How could 
he have been a man like us ? If he were only a 
great prophet, then I can understand how these 
things happened and why he has since been wor- 
shiped as a God? 

“ Have you not heard our priests say, that among 
the doctrines that have come down to us from the 
earliest time, is one almost the same as you tell 
us of Jesus, ‘ to love our neighbor as ourself, to do 
to him what we wish done to us?’ They also tell 
us to keep peace with all. God who sees will 
avenge, the same as you say, only that you con- 
stantly preach and practise it, which our priests 
have long since forgotten to.” 

After this manner did Kiana reply to Olmedo. 
The words of the pagan were a prolific theme of 
reflection to him. In some things he found himself 
a scholar where he would have been a teacher. 
There was then a light even to the Gentiles. How 
vain was force, how wicked compulsion in matters 
of faith! Mankind all sought one common end, 
happiness here and hereafter. God had left none so 
blind as not to have glimmerings of truth. He would 
adjudge them according to their gifts, and not by 
an arbitrary rule of priestcraft. God’s laws were 
uniform and universal. All creation was penetrated 
with their essence. Sin brought its own punish- 
ment, and virtue its own reward, whether within or 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


99 


without the pale of the church. Was the Roman 
Church, after all,buto/^e form of religious expression? 
An imperfect one, too! At this thought he shudder- 
ed as the force of theological dogmas recoiled upon 
him. It was but a transient emotion. Truth was 
not so easily subdued. The idea flashed through 
his mind, “ Does not pure religion diminish in propor- 
tion as a stony theology flourishes ? Is not that 
a science of words and forms of man’s creation, 
destined gradually to pass away, as the kingdom 
of God, which is only of the Spirit, shall increase 
until all men are baptized into it through Love 
and not through Fear?” 

Olmedo’s heart swelled at these thoughts. As 
he gazed upon the scene before him, so in harmony 
with the joyousness of nature, so penetrated with 
her beauty, so choral with her melodies, the mere 
scholastic theologian died from within him. His 
face lighted into a glow of thankfulness, that God 
had created Beauty, and given man senses to en- 
joy it. Was there any good thing of his to be 
refused? Was not every gift to be accepted with 
gratitude, and used to increase his enjoyment? 
Was not the rule Use^ and the denial Abuse? Was 
not the immolation of correct instincts a sacrifice 
of self to Belial? Were not the heathen them- 
selves reading a lesson to him from Nature’s Bible, 
wiser than those he had studied from the Law 
and the Prophets? There was opened to him a 
new revelation. Not of Rome! Not from Geneva! 
God’s world in all its fulness flowed in upon him. 
He was inspired with the thought. Out from his 


100 


KIANA : 


eyes as he stood erect and felt himself for once 
wholly a man, there shone a light that made those 
who looked upon him feel what it was for man to 
have been created in His Image. But beware monk! 
Beware priest! There is either salvation or ruin in 
this! Salvation, if Duty holds the helm, — ruin if 
Desire seizes the post. 

Kiana regarded Olmedo in amazement. His 
was not the soul to enter into such a sanctuary. 
There was one, however, whose nature penetrated 
his inmost thoughts. Nay, more, it instinctively 
infused itself into his and the two made One Heart ; 
intuitively praising Him. Their eyes met. One 
deep soul-searching gaze, and these two were for 
ever joined. 


A TEADITION OF HAAVAII. 


101 


CHAPTER X. 

“ So Loye doth raine 

In stoutest minds and maketh monstrous Warre : 

He maketh warre : he maketh Peace again. 

And yet his Peace is but continual Jarre. 

Oh miserable men that to him subject arre.” 

Spenser. 

The situation of Beatriz alone, so far as com- 
panionship of her sex was concerned, was peculiar. 
She was not one readily to give or seek confidence. 
Were she surrounded with her equals in race and 
cultivation, she would not have disclosed her in- 
most self, and least of all to a female. This was 
instinct rather than reason. Those about her 
thought they knew her in all points, because they 
saw how good and true she was to them. They 
loved her, because her vast capacity of love drew 
all lesser loves towards it. They came readily to 
her with their trials, because in her lar^e heart and 
womanly perceptions there was an inexhaustible 
fountain of sympathy and a foresight truer than a 
sybil’s. Thus daily, wherever she was, whoever 
among, she received a constant tribute of devotion 
and confidence. The character of those about her 
grew better by her presence. But with all this 
power, of which each word or look could not but 
9 * 


102 


KIANA : 


make her conscious, she was often inexpressibly 
sad. 

Whence this sadness? Beatriz had never ana- 
lyzed her own heart. While all others were 
open to her, her own had remained a mystery. 
She felt within it deep, broad currents of emotion, 
* which led, she scarcely knew whither. That their 
waters flowed from a clear spring was self-evident, 
because her desires were pure and high. She loved 
her brother warmly, and he returned her love ; still 
there was a wide gulf between them. With other 
men the gulf was wider. With women she had 
never been intimate. Hence, while she seemed so 
easily read by all about her, there still remained a 
mystery of which none had been able to lift the 
iveil. 

Her sympathy, self-sacrificing spirit and gener- 
osity; her indignation at the mean or base; her 
approving glance at the noble and true; her quiet 
courage and patient endurance; her piety, her quick 
perception, which so often anticipated man’s slower 
judgment; her passions even, for she had shown, 
when roused, a force and decision, that awed armed 
men and controlled rude hearts; all this was intel- 
ligible to her companions, and commanded their 
love and esteem. But there still remained a depth 
to her nature, that theirs could never have sounded, 
and would have remained fathomless to herself, 
unless stirred by a depth answering to her own. 

All God-filled souls experience this. With all 
that rank, position and the ordinary affections of 
kindred can confer, with, as it were, every earthly 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


103 


wish gratified, there still remains, underlying tlie 
calm exterior of social cultivation, a gnawing and 
restlessness, that unmasks the skeleton at the feast. 
Something is ever wanting. 

What is this want ? 

It is not Reason. The book of Nature is ever 
open, and the mind has but to look thereon to find 
always something new, — truths to lead it upward 
and onward, daily convincing it that its heritage is 
Infinity. 

What is it then ? 

It is Love ! 

Yes, with all the resources of Reason, without 
Love, we are indeed widowed. Like Rachel we 
refuse to be comforted. No love will satisfy our 
hearts, however much we may cling to the phan- 
toms of sentiment or passion, however strong may 
be the demands of duty, however implicit our obe- 
dience, unless the measure of our hearts is filled. 
We must have all that we can contain of all that 
we are and all that we are not. Then only dual 
souls become One. 

It is right that it should be thus. The very 
misery arising from uncongenial unions or unsatis- 
fied desires, springs from a benevolent law, which 
says, like pain to the diseased limb, “you are 
wrong.” Be dutiful but not satisfied. Although 
you now see through a glass darkly, in time light 
and harmony will be your portion. Cultivate your 
soul so as to receive a better inheritance. 

Beatriz had never married. Her nature had kept 
her from the great error of mistaking a little for the 


104 


KIANA : 


whole. She who had so much to give, was too 
wise to fling herself away upon a single impulse. 
Her love for all was the result of an unconcious 
superiority of soul, which increased by what it 
gave. It was, more properly speaking, kindness or 
benevolence, and flowed from her as naturally and 
as sweetly as fragrance from the rose. 

All great natures have in them a vein of sadness. 
This springs from the consciousness of the little 
they are, in contrast with the much they would be. 
With man it is an active want. He would know 
all things. He grasps the reins of the chariot of 
the sun, and falls headlong because he tries to fly 
before his wings are unfolded. Woman is more 
patient. She passively awaits her destiny. If it 
be long in coming, she may find solace in apathy, 
but she rarely, wilfully commits a wrong to hasten 
her right. Yet when her moral nature does become 
disordered, as the foulest decay springs from the 
richest soil, so she becomes so wanton as to cause 
even fallen man to shudder. 

Love had remained passive in the soul of Beatriz. 
Its might was all there, but the torch that was to 
kindle the flame had not yet reached it. She only 
knew its power for joy by the pleasure she felt in 
seeing its effects in others. Thus she welcomed 
within herself all that she saw in another that was 
noble and loveable, while she shrank instinctively 
from every base action or degrading thought. 

Kiana’s ardent, generous nature, had from the 
first been her captive. This she saw; but it inspired 
in her no deeper sentiment than the respect due his 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


105 


qualities. He, however, unlike most men, did 
not fancy that to love, implied of necessity to be 
loved. His passion was open and honorable. To 
the praise of the Hawaiian race, be it recorded, that 
no white woman ever received other than courtesy at 
their hands. Rich or poor, alone among thousands 
of natives, they and theirs with no other protection 
than their own virtue, have ever been, not only re- 
« spected, but cared for, and to a certain extent vener- 
ated. White men, it is true, have in general been 
as hospitably received. But by their passions they 
speedily place themselves upon the level of the na- 
tive. The white woman, on the contrary, from the 
first went among them as a missionary, — a being 
superior in virtue as in knowledge to themselves, 
— and by the affinity- of respect which human 
nature everywhere shows for the truly good, she 
has ever maintained over this semi-barbarian race 
an ascendancy more real than hostile fleets have 
ever effected.* 

Beatriz had nothing to fear from Kiana. It was 
not in her power to refuse his gifts for they reached 
her indirectly, through the thousand channels ever 
open to a despotic will. Kiana’s passion, like 'his 
nature, was princely. The rarest flowers, fresh 


* An exception in one instance to tliis fact, so creditable to the 
Hawaiians, is said to have occurred to one of the American mission- 
ary ladies, to whom a native behaved with so much rudeness that 
the king, Liholiho, only spared his life at the intercession of her 
husband. The contemplated punishment for a breach of their 
national hospitality, shows in what abhorrence they regarded a 
wanton insult to a white woman! 


106 


KIANA : 


every morning, were placed by unseen hands about 
her house. All that Hawaii could produce that 
was beautiful or delicate, found its way thither; she 
could not tell how, though she felt from whom it 
came. The choicest fruits were served to her by 
the fairest and best of Hawaii’s maidens. No 
wanton curiosity was allowed to intrude upon her 
retirement. If she walked out, not an eye gazed 
rudely upon her, not a glance questioned her mo- 
tives. Amid a populous district, she was as retired, 
at her own choice, as if it were her pleasure grounds. 
The gallantry of Kiana had even provided for her 
a bathing place in a crystalline pool, so nicely 
shaded by nature and screened by art, as to form 
a retreat that Diana might have coveted. When 
he visited her, it was with the state of a Hawaiian 
noble. Rarely, unless specially invited by Juan, 
did he approach her in an informal manner. 
Savage though he was, he possessed a tact and an 
intuitive perception of the delicacy of Beatriz’s 
character, which led him to adopt the only course 
that could in any wise make him personally accept- 
able to her. 

One day not long after the scene described in 
the last chapter, Beatriz, sadder than usual, was 
alone in her garden, looking at the ocean without 
seeing it, when Kiana came up to her and in a low 
voice said, “Does the white maiden mourn her 
Spanish home?” 

“ No, chief,” said Beatriz, “ my home is with my 
brother. We are orphans.” 

“Juan loves Hawaii,” replied Kiana, “and will 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


107 


stay with us. He is my brother, my Hoapili, 
‘ close adhering companion,’ my people now call 
him. But my heart is lonely. Will not his sister 
be my wife ? ” 

The abruptness of the proposal, although so long 
•foreshadowed by attentions that only an honorable 
love could have suggested, at first startled Beatriz, 
and for a moment she was at a loss for a suitable 
reply. Decided in her own feelings, she wished to 
spare him unnecessary pain, and at the same time 
preserve a friendship so important to the welfare of 
her brother. Perhaps she thought too of Olmedo. 
Her hesitation encouraged Kiana to plead his suit 
still farther. 

“ Kiana loves only the white maiden. SijLce his 
eyes first saw her, all other loves have iSrt him. 
His heart grows feeble when she speaks. He trem- 
bles at her voice, but it is music to his ears. When 
she smiles the sun looks brighter, the birds sing 
more sweetly and the flowers grow more fragrant. 
My people see in her a deity. To me, she is my 
soul, my life. Be mine, maiden, and rule Hawaii, 
as you now rule me,” and the haughty chief, who 
had never before bent the knee in prayer to God or 
mortal, knelt to Beatriz. 

Her resolution was at once taken. With a na- 
ture like his, frankness and firmness would, she felt, 
be appreciated. 

“ Rise, chieftain,” said she, “ this must not be. 
White maidens give their hands only with their 
hearts. You are generous, noble, proud. Would 


108 


KIANA : 


you wed one who cannot return your love ? No ! 
Kiana could not stoop to that.” 

‘‘ But thou wilt love. Thou art formed for love. 
Does not each bird seek a mate ? Wilt thou, of all 
thy sex, be always alone ? Look around. All 
nature smiles ; thou only art ever sad. Let my» 
love be thy smile, and Hawaii shall ever rejoice that 
‘ the pearl of the sea-wave,’ for so thou art called 
among us, was found upon her shore.” 

“ You speak truly, chief, when yoU' call me sad, ' 
but were I to wed you without love, you too would 
soon grow sad. The white maiden respects you, — 
is grateful to you, — would serve you all in her 
feeble power, but she cannot do so great a wrong to 
herself and to you, as to say yes, when her heart 
speakftio.” 

Kiana shook like an aspen leaf. His voice grew 
tremulous, but the pride and passion of his race 
were subdued before the truth and beauty of Bea- 
trix. There had always been something in her de- 
portment, which as decisively forbade hope where 
hope was not to be, as it would have invited love 
where love was to be. So he turned from her more 
in sorrow than in anger, but had gone but a few 
steps, when returning, he said, “ Kiana loves you, 
and ever will. He seeks a companion, not a cap- 
tive. You are right not to say yes, when you feel 
no ; fear not. Kiana can love, even if not loved. 
All that he possesses is yours. Never shall it be 
said of Kiana that his love changed to dishonor, 
because he could not win the white maiden.” 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


109 


Tears started to her eyes as she gave him her 
hand. She dared not trust her speech to express 
the gratitude she really felt, for fear it might revive 
his passion. And so they parted, each remaining 
true to their last words. 


10 




no 


KIANA : 


CHAPTER XI. 

“ I never saw a vessel of like Sorrow, 

So filled and so becoming.” 

“ Give Sorrow words : the Grief that does not speak 
Whispers the overfraught heart and bids it break.” 

Shakespeare. 


No woman of true sensibility rejects a lover with- 
out feeling herself a sympathy in the pang she in- 
flicts. It often happens that in her artless attempts 
to mitigate the disappointment, her motives are 
mistaken, and she subjects herself again to a siege 
so much more pressing than the former, that she 
yields against her conviction, a captive to a stronger 
will, but not to love. It was not so with a woman 
of Beatriz’s mould. She knew that in no way 
could she be so true to others as in being true to 
herself. When Kiana turned from her, although 
she was sadder than before he spoke, she felt that 
her sincerity had been her safety. 

As she prolonged her walk farther from her house 
to where the trees thickened into a forest, she 
thought she saw a pair of piercing eyes, not unfa- 
miliar, watching her at times, through the thick 
vines and ferns that clustered about her path. She 
was, however, too abstracted by her own reflections 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


Ill 


to be curious about them, and so she slowly wan- 
dered on. 

“ Holy Mother, has it come to this,” said she to 
herself, stopping occasionally, and pressing her 
hands over her heart as if to still its throbs, “ do I 
love this man ? Whence this fever here, if it be not 
love ? Why was it that when I found him lying, as 
I thought, dead on the sand, my pulses ceased to 
beat, and for the instant I was dead myself? Could 
he have seen my emotion when he came to ? The 
Chaste Virgin forbid ! Yet when our eyes met on 
that holy evening in which we gazed so long upon 
the sea, I read my soul in his. But can he know 
what I do not know myself? I would say I do not 
love him, yet something within chokes me when I 
would utter the words. What I, a Catholic maiden, 
love a priest? ’tis not so! it would be sacrilege. 
May the Mother of God forgive the thought,” and 
she paused with eyes uplifted and hands clasped in 
silent prayer. 

For an instant she became quieter, but it was 
only the gathering of the coming storm. Every 
instinct of her warm nature cried, “ you love him.” 
Each accepted doctrine of her faith as firmly for- 
bade it. She felt she was on the brink of a gulf. 
Destruction of soul and body or their martyrdom, 
seemed the only choice. 

“ Yet,” thought she, “ if it be a crime, why is it 
that his voice ever soothes me, — that his words 
ever make me stronger and truer to my better self, 
— that he upholds me in all that is good ? When 
with him, nature has a more loving aspect; the 


112 


KIANA : 


very stones look kindly on me. It has ever been 
thus. Before I suspected myself, — yes, now I see 
it all, — years, years ago, my heart flowed out the 
same to Olmedo, — his presence was my want. 
Away from him I was contented, it is true, but I 
was sad. With him, my sadness became a quiet 
joy. I was doubly myself. Has the good God 
given me all this for a torment ? To ruin my soul 
through the source of its virtue and its highest 
happiness ? ” 

She shuddered. Her whole frame was convulsed 
with agony. She did not fear that Olmedo did not 
love her, because she thought that feelings so deep 
and long tried as hers had been in relation to him, 
could not exist without the answering sympathy of 
his. 

It was not then the fear that she was not loved 
that troubled her. It was rather the fear that 
Olmedo might be tempted even as she was. He, a 
priest, vowed to chastity : his wife was the Holy 
Church ; if it were sacrilege in her to love, it were 
blasphemy in him. Again all the terrors of a 
stricken conscience smote her, and she was over- 
whelmed at the thought that he might be equally 
guilty with herself. 

Thus it often is. God gives man his instincts 
and desires. Having made him after his own 
image, that image must be vital with the eternal 
principles of God-nature. If the author of all has 
inseparably connected cause and effect in the physi- 
cal world. He has carried the law no less positively 
into the moral world. There can be, therefore, no 


A TRADITION OF HAAVAII. 


113 


instinct without its proper function, and no aspira- 
tion that may not be realized progressively towards 
Him. Duty is the password to heaven, which, in 
the rightly balanced mind begins on earth. Find- 
ing all things good according to their kind, it is not 
afraid to honor God by the right use of his gifts. 
Man begins his hell here also, by the bars to his 
progress, which his misunderstood organization, self- 
ish passions, and the foolish learning or spiritual 
tyranny of his merely human theology fabricate for 
him. He fears, and seeks to compromise or deceive. 
If the spirit of God be upon him, then he enjoys all 
things of God, each in its due degree, with a peace 
that passeth understanding. 

Beatriz, therefore, was right in feeling that the 
Being who had made the human heart and given it 
the capacity of loving, intended that it should love ; 
that he had not given affections and the affinities of 
soul to either sex, to be a torment from want of the 
very object which He had made that man might 
not be Alone. And alone must be man or woman 
into whose heart enter no sympathies, responding to 
their own. If Adam had his mate, so has each son 
of his, by the same great law of Nature. God 
chose for Adam, but he gave to his children a deli- 
cate heritage of instincts and emotions of commin- 
gled matter and spirit, which were to be their guides 
towards finding the other being who is to complete 
their unity. That Olmedo was to her that being 
and she to him, Beatriz now knew full well. Her 
past life, with all that she had gained in character 
through him, and all she had enjoyed in feeling, the 


114 


KIANA : 


repose of perfect trust in his truth, the delicacy 
of his deportment, which, whether as confessor or 
friend, had always sought her highest good, all 
came back to her as a new revelation. Not that 
a single word of love had ever passed between 
them, or a single action, which angels might not 
have witnessed, escaped him. Both had been in 
too full enjoyment of that calm, but unconscious 
love that springs from a mutual, mental and spiritu- 
al adaptation, without the suggestion of a more 
intimate relation, until to her the pang of his sup- 
posed death, and to him the reawakening of his 
physical life, amid the allurements of a tropical 
climate, disclosed to both the full extent of their 
attachment. 

From that moment Beatrix was wretched, be- 
cause however calm her exterior, within love and 
conscience were in conflict. Her misery was the 
greater, that she must hide her secret within her 
own bosom. Hitherto, every doubt or struggle 
had been disclosed to her confessor, and in his 
advice or consolation she had found repose. Now, 
the duties of her religion required her to confess 
this great sin to her confessor, and seek absolution 
for her soul’s sake ; but that confessor was the man 
she loved, and the confession itself, besides being 
forbidden by every principle of womanly feeling, 
might, if made to him, precipitate both into the 
gulf their faith told them to avoid. 

“ Sinning woman that I am, how can I pray to 
the Holy Virgin with such a stain on my soul! 
Aid me, thou Chaste Mother, purest and best of 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


115 


women. Must I ever carry this sorrow, known to 
him and seen to God, yet dare not confess it, for 
fear of a greater sin? Would that I had drowned 
at the wreck,” and the tears dropped fast upon her 
pale cheeks. For a moment her body swayed to 
and fro with anguish, till faint and worn she sank 
upon the ground. 

Woman! thine hour of trial has come; as the 
good or evil principle succeeds within thee, so 
wilt thou be saved or lost ! 

Every soul is born into the kingdom of Heaven 
only through spirit throes, such as thou now feelest 
test thy power I Much has been given thee, and 
much is required in this hour. Conquer, and eye 
hath not seen nor ear heard, nor hath it entered 
into the heart of man to conceive the joy reserved 
for thee! 

“ God knows I love Olmedo. Were I to force 
my tongue to perjure my soul to man. He sees my 
heart and its secret sin. Father in heaven, can it 
be sin to love this man! Thou art all-wise, all- 
good, all-merciful. Thou hast told us that imper- 
fect mortals cannot look on Thee and live, but 
through him, thy likeness so shines, that I can 
dimly see Thee. Do I not then in loving him, love 
Thee ?” And she mused for an instant with a dubi- 
ous smile, as if hope had began to dawn on her mind. 

It was but for a short moment. Again her fea- 
tures darkened, and the cold shudder came back 
upon her. Life seemed struggling to escape from 
so bitter a trial. But her vital organization was so 
exquisite, that as she could enjoy, so must she also 
suffer. 


116 


KIANA : 


“Oh! my God! my God!” broke passionately 
from her lips, “ what blaphemy is this ! Save me, 
Holy Mother! intercede for me with thy Son! the 
Evil One seeks to snare my soul,” and she knelt in 
prayer. 

There in the forest, no leaf stirring, all nature 
hushed, that lone woman, her soul racked with 
doubt, fearing equally to violate her own pure im- 
pulses and the faith which bade her crucify them, 
plead piteously to her Father in heaven for strength 
to calm her soul, and to know the right. Never 
before, in that land, had a truthful, earnest wo- 
man’s heart poured forth its passionate griefs in 
words of child-like simplicity, seeking sympathy 
and aid direct from its Maker. Well might we call 
that spot hallowed through all after time. Long 
and deeply she prayed, with her sad, sorrow-con- 
vulsed face upturned to heaven, into the vault of 
which her full mild eyes seemed to pierce with a 
bright light, as if like Stephen, she saw the crucified 
one amid his angels. Gradually her features soft- 
ened, a tear stood in either eye, the spirit she sought 
entered her soul, and she rose from her forest altar, 
if not a happier, for the time a calmer woman. 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


117 


CHAPTEU XII. 

** ’Tis one thing to be tempted. 

Another thing to fall.” 

Shakespeare. 

Since the evening by the seaside so eventful to 
each, Olmedo had not seen Beatriz. Indeed he 
had avoided it, because with his present feelings he 
dared not trust himself alone with her. His pro- 
fession having been chosen for him by his parents, 
he had been subjected when so young to the dis- 
cipline of his order, that he had been screened from 
the usual temptations and experiences of ordinary 
life. Under any circumstances he would have been 
an upright man. In his convent he had early 
acquired an excellent character for strict compliance 
with the ritual of his faith, benevolence, and study. 
Some of his brethren, jealous perhaps of his greater 
influence among their flock, had hinted occasionally 
to their superior, that his opinions where somewhat 
liberal, and that he had displayed at times an inde- 
pendence and energy that betokened a more active 
mind than was consistent ^with their order. What- 
ever truth there may have been in these insinua- 
tions, such was the general respect in which he was 
held, that no harm came to him or even notice of 


118 


KIANA : 


them, except now and then a good-natured sugges- 
tion to be cautious in his expressions before certain 
of the brethren. 

Olmedo was born for a wider sphere than a 
monastic life. His passions were active, but pure. 
There had always existed within him a silent pro- 
test to forced celibacy, for he felt that the family 
was an institution of God, while the convent was 
only of man. His mind, in all questions that 
affected the welfare of the human race, naturally 
took a broad and correct view, but so thoroughly 
grounded had he been in the faith and practices of 
his church, that when his opinions really differed, 
he preferred outwardly to submit to what he con- 
sidered the highest authority. Whenever, however, 
his good sense could consistently be active in oppo- 
sition to the narrow or fanatical views . of other 
members of his order, he had invariably spoken, and 
in general with effect ; and on all occasions which 
required self-devotion or the exercise of a stricter 
rule of conduct, he had been the most prompt 
among them. 

He was eminently qualified to be a missionary. 
His sincerity of faith had not cramped his sympa- 
thies of human action. Active and thoughtful, self- 
denying, yet charitable, firm to his convictions while 
obedient to lawful discipline, with a winning, quiet 
manner, that commanded respect and confidence, 
he was just the man to go forth to the world as an 
example and preacher of the pure tenets of Christi- 
anity. The newly discovered continent of America, 
with its novel races, greatly interested him. There 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


119 


he could be freer than in Spain. Accordingly he 
had obtained permission to embark for this new 
field of religious enterprise. 

Although Olmedo had come from Spain with her 
father, it so happened that it was in Cuba that he 
had first made the acquaintance of Beatriz. From 
that moment he found himself strongly drawn tow- 
ards her by their mutual comprehension of each 
other’s character, which to each filled their want of 
sympathy in the deeper aspirations of their natures. 
To either their friendship was a new and sweet 
experience. Olmedo’s heart finding refreshment in 
the ingenuous feelings and impulses of Beatriz, 
while her mind expanded and strengthened in the 
intellectual resources of his. Their intercourse, or 
mental confidence it would be more proper to 
term it, as it related so exclusively to their minds, 
was the more complete, that while each was ac- 
tually governed by the real affinities from which 
true love must spring, both were unconscious of 
any alloy of passion. Such an intimacy as existed 
between them, could not have been between bro- 
ther and sister, neither between lovers, for while it 
was undoubtedly warmed by an undercurrent of 
feeling unknown to the former, it was free from all 
the embarrassments or dangers growing out of its 
recognized existence with the latter. Olmedo was 
her spiritual father, and something more; the magnet 
of her soul. She was his spiritual daughter, and 
filled to his then well disciplined nature the void 
which lack of female communion had ever caused. 
Hence both were free, unreserved, and affectionate. 


120 


KIANA : 


Theirs was of its kind a perfect love, because it had 
no fear, but now the time had come when the eyes 
of both were opened. 

The effect on Olmedo of this sudden disclosure of 
his passion, was no less a source of acute misery to 
him than the same self-confession of Beatriz had been 
to her. Perhaps his sufferings were even greater. 
Hers were impulsive and passive. An intuitive per- 
ception disclosed all at once the joys a complete 
union of hearts like theirs might realize, while faith 
forbade the banns. With her, therefore, it was sim- 
ply a struggle, not against reason, for that sided with 
her, but a conscience educated in opposition to 
nature. There is no source of mental misery more 
poignant than this, because it is the actual right 
struggling against the conventional wrong, which 
by a false view of the laws of God has been made 
to appear the right. It is God’s coiiscience against 
man’s conscience, claiming to be of God. And 
although the latter may not be right in itself, yet 
from having been chosen as a moral guide, circum- 
stances may have woven so strong a web around it, 
that to suddenly break the woof would be a wrong. 
Hence, the eternal wrong having become the pres- 
ent right, nothing remains but to obey duty and 
leave the justification of God’s ways to his own 
good time. 

Olmedo now saw plainly that God had as fully 
constituted him for marriage as any other man ; 
that even his partial intercourse with woman had 
been the means of his greater soul-awakening ; that 
it was an error to view God as a being who de- 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


121 


lighted in asceticism. On the contrary he rejoiced, 
and all nature showed it, in man’s innocent appro- 
priation of all the sources of enjoyment and knowl- 
edge, created . expressly for him. The feasting and 
sociality of Christ, his love for women and children 
and constant intercourse with them, his generous 
disregard of the letter of the law, all spoke to him 
as they never had before. He was satisfied that 
man was right only, in the degree that he exercised 
all his faculties in the direction for which they were 
created ; that to deny some to the intent to exalt 
others, was a fatal mistake. Harmony proceeded 
solely from the mutual and free action of all, in 
accordance with general principles which all nature 
except man instinctively recognized, but which to 
man were often perverted by the wantonness of 
Reason. In demanding to be his sole guide. Rea- 
son claimed too much. There were lessons to be 
learned through his affection as well as through his 
intellect. The more childlike he became, the more 
direct was his intercourse with God. Nature, chil- 
dren, and, above all, the heart of woman had become 
to him new sources of inspiration. There was then 
a Holy Book in all created things. Words of life 
could be read alike in the phenomena of nature, 
the sports of innocence, and the warm affections of 
humanity. Revelation was not confined to the 
printed page. 

Such thoughts as these would have brought him 
to the stake in Spain. In the dull routine of con- 
vent-life, they probably would never have been 
awakened. Here he was in a new world. The 
11 


122 


KIANA : 


church, as a human institution, was himself. There 
was no official authority superior to his own ; no 
guide above his own reason or conscience. Natu- 
rally free and inquiring, how could it be otherwise 
than that the lessons of his new life should be felt 
in his soul. He saw that hierarchies were not 
indispensable roads to heaven. He even dimly 
imagined the time when each man should be again 
his own priest, and the intercourse between God 
and his children be direct as it once was. But I 
cannot follow him through all the foreshowings of 
his newly aroused religious aspirations. The Age 
and his education still had deep hold upon him. 
Fain would he now, however, redeem himself a 
man. 

“ Why should I not ? ” thought he. “ Am I al- 
ways to obey a vow taught me by others before 
able to judge for myself? Is the scope of another’s 
mind to be the measure for mine ? Here Beatriz 
and myself must pass our days, away from our 
native lands, with no bars between our loves except 
such as have been made for other places and cir- 
cumstances. Must we obey them and deny our- 
selves all that God appoints for our union, because 
man has put us asunder ? ” 

His heart rebelled at this thought, and his pas- 
sions grew clamorous. They were none the less 
forcible from long restraint. He loved Beatriz 
truly, but he loved her as a man ; his whole nature 
panted for hers, but with his intensity of feeling 
there was perfect chastity, for he could as soon 
have warmed towards a vegetable as towards one 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII, 


123 


he did not love. His passion was begotten of his 
love. He felt its impulses, but neither analyzed nor 
thought of them, except in relation to their object. 
Hid this monk sin ? 

His thoughts now reverted to her. “ She is my 
spiritual child. Her soul is in my keeping. Should 
I not be false to my charge to permit a union which 
the Church anathematizes? I may risk my own 
soul, but not hers. No! No! Be quiet, heart! 
She is pure and artless, the child of heaven ; she 
must remain so,” and he sighed as if his last breath 
was parting, as he strove to bring his will to this 
self-renunciation. 

With him, passion, opportunity, reason, and even 
his new views of religion plead for the union. 
Greater temptation of circumstance and argument 
never assailed a man. On the other hand, arose 
the still, small voice, “ You are her spiritual father ; 
love you may and must, but to confess that love, to 
tempt her, would be a sin against the Holy Ghost ; 
for has she not been confided to thy charge ? Was 
ever such a crime known to one, who has vowed to 
God for his better service here, and for higher 
reward hereafter, to renounce the honors and pleas- 
ures of this life, — to know no wife, or child ; to 
crucify alike passions and affections for the love of 
Heaven. Have a care, priest ! the devil baits his 
hook temptingly for thee ! ” 

The full tide of a broken faith swept over his 
soul with retributory energy. He trembled with 
horror. Clasping his crucifix tighty to his breast. 


124 


KIANA : 


and frantically kissing it, he rushed from the 
house, exclaiming, “ Save me, Jesus, save me from 
myself ; save her, at least, whatsoever thou wilt do 
with me.” 


A TRADITION OP HAWAII. 


125 


CHAPTER XIII. 

“ The world and men are just reciprocal, 

Yet contrary. Spirit invadeth sense 
And carries captive Nature. Be this true, 

All good is Heaven, and all ill is Hell.” 

Bailey. 

The southern and most eastern portion of 
Hawaii was, at the period of this tale, in great 
part, a sterile, volcanic region, with but scanty 
vegetation and a scanty supply of water. Mauna 
Loa occupied the larger part, with its immense 
dome and volcano. It threw off on its flanks, vast 
rivers formed by the flow from its summit of tor- 
rents of lava, which, in cooling, broke up into a 
myriad of fantastic forms. In some places they 
presented large tracks of volcanic rock, in easy 
slopes, as smooth as if a sluggish stream of oil had 
been suddenly changed to stone, — in others, the 
sharp vitrified edges, broken, basaltic masses, and 
savage look of the whole, suggested the thought of 
a black ocean petrified at the instant when a ty- 
phoon begins to subside, and the waves running 
steeple high toss and tumble, break and foam, into 
a thousand wild currents and irregular shapes. No 
verdure of any kind found root in these wastes. 
The sole nourishment they offered was an occa- 
11 * 


126 


KIANA : 


sional supply of rain-water, left in the hollows of 
the rocks. It was impossible to traverse them, 
unless the feet were protected by sandals, impene- 
trable to the heat which was reflected from the 
glassy surfaces of the smooth rock, or the knife-like 
edges of the jagged lava, which formed a path as 
unpleasant as if it had been freshly macadamized 
with broken beer bottles. Fresh currents of lava 
yearly flowed over the old, adding to the blackness 
of its desolation. The fumes of sulphur and other 
poisonous gases, the lurid glare of liquid rock, 
explosions and rnutterings, belchings and heavings, 
the quaking and trembling of the fire-eaten ground 
and jets of mingled earth and water, — the very 
elements fuzed into whirlpools and fountains of 
nature’s gore, redder and more clotted than human 
blood, while fiery ashes obscured the sky, and heavy 
rocks shot up as if from hell’s mortars, burst high in 
the air, or fell far away from their discharging 
craters with the crash and roar of thunderbolts, — 
such at times were the scenes and atmosphere of 
much of this district. 

Still the coasts and many of the valleys afforded 
sufficient arable ground to support quite a numer- 
ous population. The climate was as variable as 
the variety of altitudes it covered. On the sea- 
side, to the leeward of the fire-mountains, it was 
burning with the heat of Sahara, and all but rain- 
less, while the highest portions were almost contin- 
ually enveloped in clouds and dense vapors. The 
natives were familiar with both the tropical palm 
and the frigid lichens, perpetual heat and perpetual 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


127 


cold, boiling springs and never melting ice, the pre- 
cocious luxuriance and the utter sterility of nature, 
all within a circuit of not over one hundred and 
fifty miles. 

I doubt if the earth’s surface affords elsewhere 
more rapid transitions of zones within a more lim- 
ited territory than Hawaii. Her phenomena of all 
kinds, and even her productions, though limited in 
variety, are on no niggard scale. The active and 
extinct volcanoes are the largest known, — her 
mountains, not in chains, but isolated, are the more 
impressive to the eye, from their solitary grandeur, 
rising as they do directly from the ocean, which en- 
circling them leads off the view into immensity. 
Thus the grandeur of this wonderful island becomes 
complete. 

In the middle-ground between the hot country of 
the coast and the cold of the highest region, there 
is a neutral spot or belt, where the creative and de- 
structive agencies of nature are in intimate contact. 
Plere we find heavy forests with trees of immense 
size, growing upon a soil so thin, that earthquakes 
frequently tilted them to the ground, throwing roots 
and the clinging earth into the air, and leaving bare 
the rock beneath. Amid seas of cold lava arise 
islets of shrubbery ; verdant spots, where the straw- 
berry, raspberry, and other fruits grow, planted in 
ages past by the provident agency of birds, that 
have here rested in their flights from more prolific 
soils. Now they yield welcome harvests to the 
colonies of their first sowers and to man. Although 
fire so often lays them waste, they speedily recover 


128 


KIANA : 


their fertility, and, indeed, are gradually pushing 
vegetation into the increasing soil on all sides, thus 
adding slowly to the area of habitable earth. 

The inhabitants of this region partook of its 
character. They were brave, hardy, fierce, and 
cruel; as uncertain as their volcanoes, and as savage 
as their soil. The sybaritic life of their more favor- 
ed neighbors had no attractions for them, except 
as a temptation for foray. They loved to seize 
upon the luxuries they were too ignorant to create 
for themselves, and indeed which nature almost 
denied them. But the superior arms and disci- 
pline of Kiana’s people in general prevailed, and 
they were confined within their own borders, al- 
though sometimes a successful expedition supplied 
them with both slaves and victims for sacrifice to 
the gods of their terrible mythology. For they 
saw in the mighty agencies of nature around them, 
only malignant and sanguinary dei- 
ties, whom they feared and sought 
to appease by rites as horrible as 
their own imagination. 

The great crater of Mauna Loa 
was their Olympus. Amid its 
glowing fires, or high up in the 
perpetual snows of the mountain, 
resided their awful goddess Pele, 
with her sister train and attendants 
of the other sex, whose names best 
express their terrific attributes. It 
will be noticed that like the Grecian, 
their mythology had its origin in 




A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


J29 


their elementary conceptions of the facts of natural 
philosophy, which in time, by their darker imagina- 
tions, were personified into a family of monsters, in- 
stead of the poetical fancies of the sensuous Greek. 
“ Hiaka-wawahi-lani,” the heaven dwelling cloud- 
holder, and “ Makole-inawahi-waa,” the fiery-eyed 
cave breaker, were the sisters of Pele, and with the 
brothers “ Kamoho-alii,’^ the king of steam and 
vapor, “ Kapoha-ikahi-ala,” the explosion in the 
palace of life, “ Kenakepo,” the rain of night, 
“ Kanekekili,” thundering god, and “ Keoahi-kama- 
kana,” fire-thrusting child of war; the latter two 
were like Vulcan deformed, — made up her court. 
Their favorite sporting place was the volcano of 
Kilauea, where they were always to be seen, revel- 
ling in its flames, or bathing in its red surges, to 
the chorus of its terrific thunderings or frightful 
mutterings. 

My readers will, I trust, forgive me the insertion 
of these sentence-long names for the poetry there 
is in them, and if they will pronounce them with 
the soft accent of Southern Europe, they will find 
them as melodious as their definitions are expres- 
sive. 

But it was not alone to these deities these sava- 
ges paid homage. They worshipped a mammoth 
shark, and fed him with human victims, casting 
them alive within the enclosed water in which they 
kept their ferocious pet. This was not quite so 
bad as feeding lampreys on slaves, for their sin was 
done under a mistaken idea of religion, while the 
other was to glut revenge, and fatten eels for their 


130 


KIANA : 


owner’s dinner. If we condemn the unintellectual 
Indian for his sacrifices and his tabus, how much 
more must we pass under condemnation the Ro- 
man for his inhumanity, and the Catholic for his 
Inquisition ; the one sinning in the full light of 
knowledge, and the other of both knowledge and 
revelation. 



As Kiana had partially succeeded in placing the 
rites of worship among his sensuous people upon a 
cheerful and in a material view, an elevated footing, 
so the priests of these tribes had in every conceiv- 
able way augmented the terrors and demoniacal 
attributes of theirs, and shaped them into the like- 
ness of a devil, called “ Kalaipahoa,” which com- 
bined all the ugliness their imaginations were 
capable of conceiving in a wooden idol, sufficiently 
hideous to have sent a thrill of horror even through 
Dante’s Inferno. It was the poison god, and was 
made of a wood, which the priests gave out to be 
deadly poisonous. Its huge, grinning mouth was 
filled with rows of sharks’ teeth, human hair in 
brutish curls covered its head, while its extended 
arms and spread fingers continually cried, “ give, 
give,” to the poor victims of its fears. 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


131 


Such, in brief, were the chief objects of worship 
among these Hawaiians, whose habits in other 
respects offered a strong contrast to those of Kiana’s 
people. Cannibalism, though not very common, 
was not rare among the most ferocious of the clans, 
but was restricted chiefly to feasts of revenge after 
contests in which all their cruel propensities had 
been fully aroused. They were given to the worst 
forms of sorcery, and their worship embraced such 
rites as might be supposed to be pleasing to their 
demon-idols. Always at war, either among them- 
selves, or with their more favored neighbors of the 
north, their selfish passions were ever active, and 
their religion, based upon fear and the most abject 
superstition, but confirmed them in the vices most 
congenial to their natures. Kiana’s subjects pre- 
sented the aborigines of Polynesia under their most 
favorable aspect, but these tribes the other extreme 
of savage life. With both there were exceptions to 
the general character. There was, however, suffi- 
cient similarity between their traits to prove not 
only a common parentage, but that a change of 
circumstances would, in time, produce an alteration 
in the most prominent qualities of each. This 
actually occurred, nearly three centuries later, when 
the first Kamehameha united the islands under one 
sovereign. But even now the traveller perceives in 
the sparse inhabitants of these regions a less genial 
disposition than in those on the sea-coast, while it 
is among them that still linger most pertinaciously 
the traces of their former fearful worship. 

Among their chiefs was one named Pohaku, who 


132 


KIANA : 


had acquired by his superior courage and fierceness 
an ascendency over all the others. He was dark 
even for a native ; his hair short and crispy ; his 
eyes blood-shot ; nostrils thick and wide spread, 
and his lips heavy and full, showing, when open, a 
mouth in which great milky white teeth appeared 
like scattered tomb-stones in a graveyard; many 
having been knocked out in the various fights in 
which he had been engaged. His frame and mus- 
cles were those of a bull, and his strength prodigious. 
Brute force was his tenure of power, for with all 
the respect of the Hawaiians for inherited rank, he 
was so bad a tyrant, that nothing but a convenient 
opportunity had been wanting for them long before 
to have rid themselves of him. So malicious was 
his vanity, that he had been known to cut off the 
leg of a man more richly tattooed than his own. 
To mangle faces, whose beauty inspired him with 
jealousy, was a common pastime. Thankful were 
the possessors if their entire heads were spared. 
Even a handsome head of hair was sufficient provo- 
cation to cause the owner to be beheaded. To this 
malevolence he joined a mania for building. What 
with his wars, cruelties and constant consumption 
of time in his rude works, his immediate tenants 
had a hard service, so that it was not surprising 
that they took every occasion to desert to the terri- 
tories of Kiana, who kindly received all who claimed 
his protection. Others retreated farther into the 
savage wilderness, and there became petty robbers, 
a further pest to the little industry that could exist 
under such a ruler, and on so precarious a soil. 


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A TKADITION OF HAWAII, 


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The whole population, therefore, bred to hardihood 
and tyranny, were ever ripe for every opportunity 
which would unite them in any enterprise that 
savored of danger and plunder. 



12 


134 


KIANA : 


CHAPTER XIV. 

He that studieth revenge, keepeth his own wounds green.” 

Bacon. 

Tolta had not been idle since the shipwreck. 
The restraint which the presence of the Spaniards 
had hitherto imposed upon him, was now removed. 
He was rarely seen with them, and indeed often 
disappeared for weeks at a time. 

Kiana had never liked him. Tolta felt it at 
heart and resented it. At the bottom of this feel- 
ing was no doubt the attachment both had for 
Beatriz. We have seen the nature of Kiana’s ; 
generous and profound, more from deep respect 
than from positive love, because in reality, while 
her character compelled, it at the same time re- 
pelled his passion. He had striven to win her, for 
he could not help it. In one sense, he was not 
disappointed at the result, because his reason told 
him it could not be otherwise. Having therefore 
obeyed both his own and her will, he now, in con- 
tinuing his kindness, left her as free to act as him- 
self. 

It was different with Tolta. The Aztec saw 
even deeper into the impassable gulf between their 
two natures, but he was drawn to her with the 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


135 


tenacity of the bloodhound to his scent. In her 
presence he was gentle and serviceable. The pas- 
sions which excited him when apart from her, be- 
came with her like those of a little child. He 
would gaze upon her for hours with eyes intense 
with his fiery emotions, but the moment she spoke 
to him the fire left them, and the good in him 
illumined his countenance. 

Beatriz read his character, and while from sym- 
pathy in his misfortunes she exerted herself to 
soothe, she never could so overcome her repugnance 
as to trust in him as she did in Kiana. With the 
latter she felt safe ; with Tolta never. The very 
fierceness which he was ever ready to display in 
her defence, might at any moment be turned upon 
her. It was well that her instincts prompted her to 
distrust him as much as she did, for often the only 
barrier between them was her own moral superi- 
ority. Tolta felt this to be indeed a far stronger 
obstacle than would have been the jealous precau- 
tions of lock or duenna. The possibility of Beatriz 
loving him as he did her never deluded him. He 
knew that was hopeless. Still his passion rather 
grew than abated, especially in the freedom of his 
new life, which brought back the pride and ambi- 
tion of his race. So long, however, as he saw that 
Beatriz did not love another, he was reconciled* 
She had so wisely avoided the subject whenever he 
sought to suggest his feelings, that he had all but 
persuaded himself that she was of a different mould 
from other women. She might be worshipped, but 
not sought in love. 


136 


KIANA : 


He hated Juan and the seamen with all the in- 
tensity of an Aztec’s revenge, for their share in the 
conquest of his country. Olmedo he had ever 
respected for his virtues, and would have exempted 
from the fate he cherished at heart for the others. 
In his excursions about Hawaii, he had come in 
contact with some of Pohaku’s warriors. Gradually 
their intercourse had ripened into an intimacy with 
their chief, with whom he now conspired to over- 
throw Kiana and get possession of the Spaniards. 
So adroitly had he concealed his designs, that he 
had retained the friendship and confidence of all 
except a few individuals about him, for his manner 
was the same it had ever been. Their own con- 
sciousness of the opportunities he now had, and the 
provocation they had often given him, were more the 
causes of their secret distrust than anything they 
saw. His frequent absences were a relief rather than 
a cause of suspicion, for he was then forgotten. 

He had no difficulty in obtaining a willing audi- 
tory to his plans in Pohaku, and the chiefs leagued 
with him. His inmost desire was to sacrifice the 
Spaniards to the war-god of Mexico, under any 
name his allies might choose from their mythology, 
and to gloat over their dying agonies, while taunt- 
ing them with their fate as due their crimes against 
his countrymen. Besides this, seeing the brutal 
nature of Pohaku and the easy confidence of Kiana, 
he conceived the design of eventually disposing of 
both, by turning their arms against each other, 
while he gradually united all Hawaii under his own 
sway and forced Beatriz to become his wife. As 


A TKADITION OF HAWAII. 


137 


hopeless as seemed such a plot, it was within the 
range of probability could the wily Aztec dispose of 
the chief actors. To this end he now bent all the 
resources of his cunning. 

Pohaku listened eagerly to his seductive elo- 
quence as he promised him the wealth of Kiana’s 
people, if he would unite his warriors under his 
direction. He excited his fears also, as he narrated 
the career of the white man in Mexico, insinuating 
that they were spies, to be followed by numbers 
sufficient for the conquest of Hawaii, as soon as 
their report should reach their countrymen in the 
ports whence they came. 

At the suggestion of Tolta, some days before the 
declaration of Kiana to Beatriz, Pohaku had sent 
his heralds to summon the friendly chiefs to a grand 
council, at which the plot was to be finally discus- 
sed. They assembled at one of his principal for- 
tresses on the southwestern bank of the crater of 
Kilauea, and there in silence and secrecy prepared 
their plans. Tolta knew too well the valor of the 
Spaniards, not to impress upon the chiefs the im- 
portance of securing them before marching in force 
upon Kiana. So artfully did he mingle his own 
revenge with their superstition, that they with one 
accord decided to seize upon them by a secret expe- 
dition entrusted to Tolta, who agreed to put them 
into their hands for a solemn sacrifice to Pele, on 
condition only that the white woman was to be his 
own prize. Accordingly, some of the most active 
and trusty warriors were placed at his command. 
By slow marches and secret paths he led them 
12 * 


138 


KIANA : 


without discovery to the borders of the valley where 
the Spaniards dwelt, dividing them into different 
ambushes, with orders to seize each one and bear 
him off at once to Pohaku’s fortress, without taking 
his life, while he was to decoy the white men to 
them, and on each occasion make his own escape 
as if equally endangered. So successful was he, 
that the three seamen were abducted as arranged, 
without any alarm being given. Tolta then, with 
a select party lay in wait in the vicinity of Juan’s 
dwelling, watching his opportunity to seize the 
main prize. Alvirez, he soon ascertained, was for 
the present out of his reach, being in a distant part 
of the valley. 

While watching for Olmedo and Beatriz, he had 
been witness to the scene between Kiana and the 
latter. Without overhearing their discourse, he 
saw in their parting, as simple as it was, food for 
his jealousy, for he well knew that her hand and 
tear had never been given him. His tiger blood 
was stirred, and he ground his teeth in rage. 
“ What,” said he, “ does she frown upon the Aztec 
noble, that she may smile upon this hind of Ha- 
waii. Once in my power, and she shall be taught 
to love me or none.” 

He watched her after movements more in amaze- 
ment than anger, for they were to him contradictory 
and unintelligible. Besides, until she was suffi- 
ciently far from her people, he dared not give the 
signal to seize her for fear of a general alarm ; but 
not for one minute did he let her get out of his 
sight, following her movements under cover of the 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


139 


thick undergrowth of the forest, with the silence 
and subtlety of a serpent. While thus engaged, a 
scene occurred which so astonished and fascinated 
him, that until he had seen it out, he seemed to 
have forgotten the object of his expedition. 


140 


KIANA : 


CHAPTEE XV. 

“ Exalted souls 

Have passions in proportion, violent. 

Resistless and tormenting : they ’re a tax 
Imposed by nature in preeminence, 

And Fortitude, and Wisdom must support them.” 

Lillo. 

When Olmedo left his house under such excited 
feelings, he unconsciously followed the path which 
led to the grdVe where Beatriz was, and which he 
knew to be her favorite retreat. In his present con- 
dition of mind, she was the last person .his reason 
would have counselled him to meet, but led by an 
inward attraction, without seeking the meeting, his 
steps took him towards where she had just risen 
from prayer. So distracted, however, was he with 
his conflicting emotions, that she saw him the first. 
It was too late to avoid him, which she would not 
have done had she been able. Conscious of the 
rectitude of her own desires, and pacified by her 
late appeal to heaven, she obeyed her impulse and 
advanced towards him. As he suddenly looked up 
and saw her within a few steps, a faintness came 
over him, and he was well nigh falling, but with a 
great effort recovering himself, he took her hand as 
frankly as it was offered. 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


141 


Both were silent. Each felt the crisis of their 
fate had arrived. Nature, when her mightiest 
agencies are about to go forth in the hurricane, 
the earthquake, or the volcanic eruption, is for the 
moment breathless. So the human soul anticipates 
its most direful trials by utter stillness. 

They walked on side by side, going deeper into 
the wood, as if. to screen themselves from all the 
world. Yet neither knew why they did so, only it 
was a relief to be together and to be apart from 
every one else. Though not a word had been 
spoken, each felt the confession had been made, and 
they began to tremble, as did the guilty pair in 
Paradise when they first heard the voice of the 
Creator. Why should they tremble ? 

To love surely was no crime. That hearts like 
theirs should in meeting mingle, God had ordained 
when he first created man and woman. Whence, 
then, the thrill too deep for utterance that paralyzed 
their tongues ? Beatriz was not a woman to shrink 
from the display of her own feelings. She was one 
rather to avow them, and meet the consequences 
fearless in her honesty. Olmedo had never before 
shrunk from speaking directly from his heart words 
of truth or admonition. Why, then, did these inno- 
cent ones act as if guilt was upon them ? Because 
the Church had said to him, “ thou shalt not love 
her whom God gave thee for a companion, and to 
her, thou shalt not be a companion to him.” Thus 
man’s forgery of God’s will, making Him to say, 
“ it is good for man to be alone,” had given to each 
of these sufferers, who by his laws were mated in 


142 


KIANA : 


love and sympathy in body and soul, for time and 
eternity, a false conscience which perverted their 
good into their evil. Much of theology is indeed a 
cunningly contrived system of man’s to make him- 
self miserable, despite the broad ordinances of the 
Creator, to be read in all his works, “ to go forth 
and enjoy the world, to be fruitful and multiply, to 
love Him with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and 
with all thy mind,” and “ thy neighbor as thyself.” 
Man will not be in his proper relation to his Maker, 
until he escapes from the dogmas and creeds of a 
conventional Christianity and walks with Him, as 
did Enoch, in the faith of that perfect love which 
casteth out all fear. 

But man in his soul-progress can keep pace only 
with his age and opportunity. The duties he vol- 
untarily assumes are still duties, though more light 
may have widened his own prospect. He is but a 
link in the vast chain of humanity, no one of which 
can be ruptured without affecting it through its 
entire extent. He is, therefore, to consider well 
before he acts whether in seeking his own personal 
gratification, or even in obeying the right instincts 
of his heart, he may not offend others, or do a gen- 
eral injury for a particular good. In all doubtful 
moral emergencies, duty says obey the higher law, 
or that which shows that thou lovest thy neighbor 
as thyself. 

There is a blessing in the principle of obedience, 
springing from self-sacrificing motives, which, what- 
ever may be the result in this life, is sure of its final 
reward. Duties, w^hether artificial or not, are the 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


143 


moral diamond dust, by which our souls are polish- 
ed. As we free ourselves from all selfish considera- 
tions in our relations with others, so shall our hope 
be converted into joy in the next life. It is well 
therefore, to bear our burdens meekly and with 
courage here, that we may travel the lighter here- 
after. 

Olrnedo was distracted between his vows and 
his desire. How could he to the simple natives 
recall his teachings and example as a monk, upon 
the one point of celibacy, which in him was now in 
such peril ! Could they comprehend his recanta- 
tion ? Would not the little truth that had already 
begun to be understood among them, based as it 
was more upon their respect for one who showed 
himself superior to their ordinary passions, than to 
an intellectual appreciation of his doctrines, would 
not this seed even be lost, and the priest, tabued to 
women, be hereafter esteemed only as one of them- 
selves ? Besides, the doctrine of self-abnegation, 
or the crucifying of his natural instincts, which 
although his now more enlightened reason showed 
him could not be an acceptable sacrifice to their 
author, except in refraining from their abuse, still 
had a deep hold upon him, particularly as it was 
his own love that had just stimulated his mind to 
the full exercise of its freedom. He who had already 
sacrificed so much to an erroneous idea, could he 
not now complete the sacrifice for the sake of the 
good to others ? Would not such a sacrifice to the 
principle of love to his neighbor, and of duty to his 
vows, be bread upon the waters, to be returned to 


144 


KIANA : 


him at the end of time? Each heart had its school- 
ing for eternity. The struggle to decide his future 
— his salvation had come. What was once right 
for him as a free man, was now wrong as pledged 
to a religion whose tenets had ever been his love 
and admiration. 

Such had been his reflections. They had flashed 
through his mind and ten-fold more, with piercing 
throbs of conscience, as in silence he walked by 
the side of Beatriz with his eyes fixed on the 
ground, while his blood was beating time to pas- 
sion’s marches, and his affections yearned, nay, 
clamored to take Beatriz to wife. They had come 
to him with all the quickness and vividness with 
which the entire previous life crowds itself into the 
brief struggle of the drowning man. Speak he 
could not. His tongue was rooted to his mouth. 

With Beatriz the struggle was different. She 
made no pretence to conceal what was longer im- 
possible, but waited with quickened pulse and 
tremulous feeling, to hear him break the silence. 
His mental agony was perfectly intelligible to her. 
Without analyzing as he did the circumstances of 
their position, they flooded her heart like a spring 
freshet. It might break, but she would give no 
sigh that should tempt him from his holy allegiance. 
Once his decision made, her heart was wholly his, 
either to sustain him in duty, or to share his lot. 
With Ruth she would have said, “ Entreat me not 
to leave thee, nor to return from following after 
thee, for whither thou goest I will go, and where 
thou lodgest I will lodge.” How long they wan- 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


145 


dered thus, or how far, neither could realize, for 
every step was as if a millstone were tied to their 
heels. In their doubt and conflict the landscape, so 
joyous in itself, seemed overspread with gloom. 
The very sun, as it stole through the thick verdure 
overhead, shot upon them cold and mocking rays — 
light without warmth. Heaven was darkened, and 
the earth gave them no rest. 

At last they sat down; Beatriz on a log, and 
Olmedo at her feet. Around and over them rose a 
rural bower, carpeted with soft mosses and canopied 
with vines, fragrant in blossoms and flowers. The 
birds warbled melodiously even at noon-day in this 
shady retreat. Near by, flowed a little brook with 
gentle murmurings, a vein of life coursing through 
the green sward, on its way to a torrent stream that 
thundered far below. Through an opening in the 
trees, mountain-ward in the far distance could be 
seen the glassy curve of the cataract which fed 
both. Rising from its mist, enclosing in its hollow 
the entire gorge from which it issued, was a perfect 
rainbow, forming a frame of wondrous beauty to 
nature’s painting. On the opposite side, glimmer- 
ing through the forests like a silver horizon, was 
the ocean, its waves sparkling and dancing in the 
bright sun as the fresh trade-wind swept over it, 
and, cooled by its breath, came stealing with soft 
notes and reviving breeze through every leafy 
cranny of the dense jungle. The quick darting, 
bright eyed lizards, crept out of their holes and 
played about their human friends, sure that they 
had nothing to fear from them. Adam and Eve 
13 


146 


KIANA : 


when they slept in Paradise, were not more alone 
with the communings of nature than were appar- 
ently this pair. A scene more soothing, since its 
gates were closed upon our race, the earth had 
never offered to mankind. Yet for a while it was 
unheeded, for the eyes of both were turned within ; 
gradually, however, its beauties dawned upon them. 
They looked around. Beatriz first spoke. ‘‘ 01- 
medo,” she said, “ does not God reign here ? How 
beautiful is this landscape ? how filled with repose ; 
all nature is hushed in harmony. Why is it we 
alone are unhappy ? ” 

As she said this her face lighted up with its 
wonted smile for him. She wished to chase away 
the gloom that darkened his brow. The appeal 
was irresistible. There was before him the rain- 
bow, God’s sign of hope and protection for man ; 
there was her smile which for so many years, and 
through so many trials, had been the rainbow to his 
heart. Why should it be less now ? Could he not 
learn to accept its spirit, without coveting her pos- 
session ? 

His heart melted. He laid his head upon her 
knees, and for an instant wept aloud. Their hands 
soon met, and were entwined ; then their eyes — long 
and earnestly they searched each other’s souls. All 
the tenderness and truth of natures, warm like theirs 
with humanity’s deepest sympathies, poured forth 
responsive in that gaze. From her face, lighted 
with love’s softest smile, bending over him with an 
angel look, as if it would pour into his torn heart 
all the peace, purity, and sacrifice hers contained. 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


147 


there shone a celestial glow, which savored more of 
heaven than earth. Bright spirits were communing 
with them ; spirits of love and joy. Alas ! their 
lips meet, and in one lingering kiss, the first of love’s 
passion either had known, was concentrated all the 
long pent-up affection of their two lives. 


148 


KIANA : 


CHAPTER XVL 

** It is •witli certain Good Qualities as with the Senses; those who 
are entirely deprived of them, can neither appreciate nor comprehend 
them.” — La Eochefoucauld. 

There are some natures like the orange-tree, 
upon which the blossom and fruit meet at the same 
time. In their capacity for joy they receive more 
from one glowing, self-forgetting impulse, than colder 
and more calculating persons are able to gather in 
a lifetime. With such are generally permitted on 
earth only glimpses of ecstatic happiness, far-off 
sights of their promised land, the eternal future, 
through the never ending ages of which their affec- 
tions and intellect shall steadily advance towards 
infinite Love and Wisdom, each emotion a new 
bliss, and each thought a deeper current from the 
infinitude of divine knowledge. 

Who are those that realize their hopes on earth ; 
here find their homes, content with the present and 
its material gifts, without heart-yearnings for deeper, 
truer, and more satisfying affections ; without soul- 
strivings to penetrate the mysterious Beyond ? 
Who are such? Through the length and breadth of 
every land myriads respond, “ Give us a sufficiency 
of treasure on earth, and we will not seek to scale 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


149 


heaven. Our loves, our lands, our gold and our 
silver, our mistresses, our wives and our children ; 
our well-garnished tables and our fine houses ; the 
riches for which our hands and minds labor, and 
which our hearts covet; all that we can see, feel, 
weigh and' compare ; the honors by which we are 
exalted above our neighbors, the fame by which 
our names are in the world’s mouths ; these are our 
desires. Give us abundantly of these that we may 
eat, drink, and be merry, and we ask not for more. 
This earth is good enough for us.” 

Do they have their reward ? Yea, verily! as they 
sow, so they reap. Few there are who steadily 
give themselves to the pursuit of these desires, but 
receive houses and lands, honor and fame, meats 
and drinks, handsome women or fine men, such 
children as such parentage can give birth to, 
stocks in all banks but that of Eternity. There is 
no lack of wealth like this to the earnest seeker. 

God is a provident father. He has created every- 
thing good of its kind, and bestowed self-will upon 
man that he might himself elect his manner of life. 
The standard of enjoyment for his own soul is at 
his own option, whether he will discipline it here 
for its higher good hereafter, or whether he will 
enjoy here without reference to that hereafter, the 
knowledge of which is suggested in some way or 
other to all men. Man is highly distinguished. 
For is not creation made for him? There is 
neither gift nor discipline but can be made subser- 
vient to his moral growth ; to his conquest of the 
kingdom of heaven. There is nothing, also, but 
13 * 


150 


KIANA : 


may be transformed by sensual, selfish, short sight- 
ed desire, by his weaknesses or passions; by his 
false logic or falser ambition, into a morass of error, 
into which he will ever plunge deeper and deeper, 
unless he resolutely bends his steps towards the 
firm land of hope and faith that is never wholly 
shut out of the gloomiest horizon. 

Just in proportion to the quality of the treasure 
we seek, is the degree of enjoyment that springs 
from its realization. All that belongs solely to 
earth has incorporated with it change, decay, satie- 
ty, fear, and care. These are warning angels, to 
urge the spirit to temperance, that it may not mar 
its capacity for nobler enjoyments. As they are 
disregarded, and man seeks only that which is 
perishable, he finds his pleasures pall and his 
appetites wane. Abuse extinguishes gratification. 
Want of aspiration towards the perfect develop- 
ment of all man’s faculties leaves him a monoto- 
nous, abdominal animal, content with husks where- 
with to fill his belly. There is no increase in store 
for him, because he can conceive of nothing better 
than what his feeble hands or vainglorious mind 
have gathered around him. Nature reads to him 
no moral lesson, because he uses her only as a 
slave, to administer to his material wants. He sees 
not that there is in all things a deeper principle 
than mere use for the body. 

“A primrose by a river’s brim — 

A yellow primrose is to him. 

And it is nothing more.” 

The vital element that pervades all nature, unit- 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


151 


ing it in a chain of harmonious progression, the 
eternal laws of which even his stolid spirit cannot 
ultimately avoid, however much he now seeks to 
bury it beneath the grosser particles of matter, 
escapes his perception. Guided only by his finite, 
perishable .sensorium, in vain attempt to grasp at 
once the entire treasure, he often plunges his 
suicidal knife into the ovary which daily laid him 
a golden egg. Thus man destroys his own birth- 
right through brutal ignorance and sensual im- 
patience. The truly wise count all things at 
their right worth, and find a sympathy in every 
natural object, in varied degree, according as it 
speaks to them the thought of a common Creator, 
and connects them in one common end. They 
have, therefore, a double enjoyment. First, that 
which springs from the right material use of every 
object or sense; secondly, the language which both 
speak to them of hope and faith in more refined 
enjoyments and more perfect conditions of exist- 
ence. The very trials and incompleteness of 
present experiences are so many testimonies of 
, future and nobler realizations. Thus God speaks 
as kindly through the so-called evils and disappoint- 
ments of life, as through the more readily dis- 
.tinguished blessings; for if they see in the latter 
hope and happiness, so in the former they dis- 
tinguish that chastening which, through paternal 
discipline, seeks to guide and strengthen. 

Few situations could be more trying to moral 
firmness than the circumstances under which w^e 
left Olmedo and Beatriz. Free from all external 


152 


KIANA : 


restraint of church discipline, with no censorship 
beyond their own consciences; reason and passion 
both pleading their right to be united; their past by 
its friendship casting a bright light upon their fu- 
ture and closer union ; doomed to pass their lives, 
while still in the flush of life, away from all that 
had made other homes dear; twin exiles, each 
sustaining the other and now alone, amid a joyous 
seductive nature, every motion and aspect of which 
was pleading for love: — was there not in all this 
sufficient temptation to have overcome them ? 
Neither were ascetic by nature nor principle. No 
two human beings, by organization, were better 
fitted to enjoy lawfully all the indulgences whole- 
some instincts and the tenderness of united hearts 
craved. The very restraint which former circum- 
stances and the absence of love had produced, now 
that both were removed, but made them more 
susceptible to the reaction. We must not, therefore, 
judge that kiss too harshly. Less passion would 
have removed them from our sympathies. Now 
they have vindicated their humanity, will they be 
able to vindicate their duty? Duty as their reli- 
gion taught them I 

Olmedo’s heart beat wildly. His face was 
flushed and fevered. He would have repeated th^ 
embrace, but something instinctively alarmed Bea- 
triz, and she sadly whispered, putting her hand on 
his forehead, and looking directly at him, with an 
expression of affection and alarm, “ You do not love 
me, Olmedo!” 

Had the voice of the Almighty called to him, as 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


153 


it did to Adam in the garden, a greater change 
could not have come over Olmedo. It was the 
voice of the Almighty in the pure soul of Beatriz, 
and it spoke to an answering conscience. He be- 
came breathless, pale, and faint, as the full meaning 
of those soft words pierced through his soul. They 
spoke volumes. His passion was quenched, and 
true wisdom descended upon him. In an instant 
he was another being, loving not less, but less self- 
ishly — able to sacrifice indulgence to Duty, to 
her and to his faith ; for he would not peril her 
soul through the entreaties of passion, or the plead- 
ings of what might be selfish reason. 

Holding her hand tenderly as might a father, he 
said, “ Beatriz, my daughter in faith, thou art my 
saviour in action. Love thee ! let me prove how I 
do love thee. I dare not think of what we might 
be to each other, were not I wedded to the Holy 
Church. No blessing will follow vows broken, 
because circumstances tempt. Help me to be true 
to my religion and to thee! Forgive my passion 
thou wilt, because thou knowest the strength of 
passion. Be to me sister, spirit-bride — all of wo- 
man in tenderness, love and friendship thou canst, 
and as I am true to thy confiding faith, so God 
deal with me. In his own wise providence and 
good time will he recompense out faith in Him 
and our love to each other. Had my passions over- 
powered us both, however much our union might 
have brought us pleasure, we should have sought 
to hide our heads in shame and confusion, as the 
conviction that we had purchased it by the violated 


154 


KIANA : 


faith of a soul, consecrated to heaven, grew upon 
us. Heaven spoke through thee, Beatriz ; angel 
woman hast thou ever proved to me.” 

Kneeling upon the ground, with Beatriz besides 
him, every passion harmonized by gratitude and 
hope* and faith, Olmedo lifted up his head and said, 
“ Father, I thank thee, that thou hast spared me 
this crime. Thine be the praise, and not to my 
own feeble will, which without thee, in the hour 
of temptation, thou hast permited me to see is as 
a broken reed. I praise thee, I thank thee. Father, 
that thou hast pitied thy servant, and in saving him 
from error hast given him further opportunity for 
thy service and of getting wisdom. In creating 
man, thou has bestowed upon him affections for 
wise purposes, and I now see that thou delightest 
no more in their sacrifice than in innocent blood. 
I thank thee that I am a man ; that I possess from 
thee the desires and aspirations for love eternal as 
the heavens, and that thou hast permitted me to 
find, even in my solitary profession, a heart which 
makes mine beat warmer, truer and better. May 
it ever be a strength and a support, and this love, 
which I now confess before thee, our Father, be a 
bond of stricter service and accountability for every 
thought and action, and finally unite us in spirit 
among the just made perfect.” 

Thus plead the Man with his Maker. In his 
aroused emotions, the formal language of priestly 
prayer was forgotten, and the genuine, sincere 
thought of the heart ascended freely and welcome 
to God, with nature’s true eloquence. Does the 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


155 


Great Heart not hear such prayers ? Heart to 
heart and soul to soul make answer! When man 
conquers himself and ascends in spirit to his eter- 
nal home in the heavens, asking from God direct, 
life and light to guide and keep him through his 
earthly trials, the sympathetic voice of the entire 
heavens echoes ‘his prayer, and repeats to him the 
assurance of aid. Prayer is to the soul what the 
plough is to the soil. It opens it to vivifying rays. 
As the disturbed water sends circle after circle, 
wider and wider over its surface, so in the moral 
world, each thought or action for good or evil, 
spreads likewise, and awakes throughout its infinity 
its circle of affinities. Angels rejoice with man in 
his rise, and fiends exult in his fall. Be cautious, 
therefore, fellow-man, for thou canst not calculate 
the extent of thy influence in either life. 

Beatriz felt her power and her responsibility, and 
was troubled.^ Silently, but with deep* earnestness, 
she followed Olmedo in his prayer. Both rose from 
that forest sanctuary dearer to each other, because 
there was now no secret thought between them. 
Each felt that the salvation of the other was a 
solemn charge from heaven. 


156 


KIANA : 


CHAPTER XVII. 


“ How now ? 

A foe ? What means this most unwelcome Yisit ? ” 

Kemble. 

By the time Olmedo and Beatriz had begun to 
retrace their steps to their homes, Tolta’s hesitation 
had vanished, and he prepared to seize them. If 
his anger had been aroused by the scene between 
Kiana and the maiden, he was now furious with 
rage and jealousy at the discovery of the mutual 
love of Olmedo and Beatriz. Of their motives and 
resolves he could appreciate nothing. He saw only 
that they loved. Their devout prayer had aston- 
ished him, but that over, his imagination acted as a 
slow-match to explode his passions. 

At a sign from him, his warriors stealthily encir- 
cled the two, and stepping out suddenly from their 
retreat, seized and bound them before they could 
either resist or effectually cry out. Tolta, unable to 
repress his satisfaction, walked up to Olmedo and 
hissed in his ear, “ Catholic maidens are not kept 
solely for the dalliance of Catholic priests. You 
shall soon see her fonder of an Aztec priest than 
she has been of you, most chaste monk,” and he 
leered upon him with such a demoniacal meaning, 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


157 


as for an instant to paralyze the speech of Olmedo, 
who almost fancied the devil himself had bodily 
entrapped him. 

Soon recognizing Tolta, he exclaimed, “ What 
means this violence ? Are you mad ? Release us, 
or evil will come upon you.” 

“ Not so fast*, monk, we have a journey to make 
first. I wish to introduce you to one who is as 
fond of Spanish blood as your countrymen are of 
Mexican.” 

“ Do with me as you will, but send back Beatriz 
to her brother. She has never injured you,” urged 
Olmedo. 

“ Beatriz is my prize, you are another’s,” said 
Tolta, with a look so full of dark insinuation that 
his captive shuddered, — not for himself, but for the 
maiden. 

He would have again entreated, but Tolta fear- 
ing to lose time, ordered his men to gag him and 
drive him before them, while he whispered to Bea- 
triz, “ If you attempt an outcry, these infidels will 
kill Olmedo. His sole hope is in your keeping 
quiet.” This he said with cunning forethought, 
and it had the immediate effect he wished, to keep 
her silent, for he dreaded the influence of her voice 
quite as much as he feared any alarm she could 
give. 

Compelling her to walk before him, the party 
passed in single file through the forest in the direc- 
tion of the mountain, till they reached its outskirts, 
and came to the more scantily wooded uplands. 
Here they were joined by another and larger band, 
14 


158 


KIANA : 


bearing a “manele,” a sort of palanquin, into which 
Beatriz was placed, and borne rapidly on by four 
stout warriors, who were relieved each hour by 
others. In this way allowing no intercourse be- 
tween the captives, but hurrying on at a dog trot 
by a circuitous course that took them away from 
the inhabited portions of the country, they made 
rapid progress for several hours without a halt or 
seeing any one. 

Their course lay along the eastern and southern 
flank of Mauna Kea, which was then a wilderness, 
much broken up by precipitous ravines and irregu- 
lar plains, dotted with groves of a beautiful species 
of laurel, whose pendant branches, with small dark 
green leaves intermingled with delicate white blos- 
soms, all but swept the ground, aflbrding by day a 
shade impervious to the sun, and by night not an 
unwelcome shelter. Not a word had been uttered 
by which either of the captives could get a clue to 
their probable fate. Each was most anxious for 
the other. At the same time both felt a certain de- 
gree of relief and even pleasure in their mutual 
presence, and had the choice to be free and apart 
been given to either, while thus uncertain as to 
their future, neither would have accepted it. Bea- 
triz alone had some suspicion as to the object of 
Tolta in their abduction. Olmedo on the contrary, 
notwithstanding the dark hints of the Mexican, 
could not persuade himself that any real danger 
awaited either. Calm in his own soul-peace, he 
patiently bided a solution of the mystery. 

As night approached, Tolta gave orders to en- 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


159 


camp under one of the laurel groves. Being now 
beyond immediate danger of a recapture, Olmedo’s 
gag was removed, and he was permitted to warm 
himself by the fire, which, at that altitude, was 
agreeable even in July. He was kept apart from 
Beatriz, each being under the charge of a distinct 
company of warriors. They were fierce, athletic 
men, quite capable of executing any orders their 
chief, — for such by the command of Pohaku, they 
now considered the Mexican, — might give, but at 
the same time they regarded their captives, espe- 
cially Beatriz, more with curiosity than hostility. 
Her quiet, resigned demeanor, had made some im- 
pression upon them, and involuntarily they treated 
her with a degree of respect, that did not pass un- 
noticed by their crafty leader. He was not at all 
satisfied with himself, although his expedition 
promised such complete success. While away from 
Beatriz, he could plot against her honor and her 
brother’s life without compunction, but it was quite 
a different thing when she was an unresisting cap- 
tive in his power. Her apparent feebleness and 
moral security were more formidable barriers than 
an armed defence. She had not once appealed to 
him by voice, but her mournful look, excited rather 
at his treachery than her danger, recalled to him 
those moments which, under other auspices, had 
impelled him to peril his life for hers. Besides, he 
thought of Pohaku, and feared the effect of her 
beauty on his sensual appetite. He might claim 
the woman as well as the man, and how could he 
resist. 

/ 


160 


KIANA : 


Having fully embarked in his career of deceit 
and revenge, Tolta saw at a glance he had gone too 
far to withdraw, for the fiery Juan would never 
forgive the insult to his sister, however lenient she 
might prove. The future began already to wear a 
different and more problematical aspect than it did 
when he first meditated his treachery. The appa- 
rent ease with which he had done so much, but 
magnified what remained to be done. In fact, his 
conflicting emotions all but paralyzed his evil ener- 
gies, which threatened to leave him midway in his 
career an imbecile villain, sure to die like a torpid 
serpent from the blows of the first that discovered 
him. This hesitation arose from the influence Bea- 
triz exercised over him, despite his jealousy, which 
at intervals somewhat cooled from having his rival 
in his power. He was therefore, restless, suspicious 
and wavering. While his captives slept peacefully 
on the rude couches of tS.pa and dried leaves their 
guards had prepared for them, he sat apart gloomily 
brooding over his projects. 

It was clear star-light. Through the thick foliage 
an occasional bright ray at times found its way, as 
if to hint to his troubled soul there still was light 
for it if he would but look upward. But his eyes 
were either bent upon the ground, or peered out be- 
tween the pendulous branches into the mysterious 
horizon around, out of which grew strange, spectral 
shapes, with long arms sweeping the night-air. In 
the daytime they were but common trees, like those 
under which he sat, but to him they now became 
demon ambassadors from his terrible war-god to 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


161 


arouse him to vengeance. Through the overhang- 
ing branches, the chill breeze sent hoarse sounds as 
they chafed against each other, at times grinding 
heavily with a dismal noise like the crushing of 
bones, while the more distant trees responded with 
fitful shrieks or deep sighings as the winds by turns 
rose or sunk in varying gusts ; now wholly silent^ 
then swelling into a diapason that thrilled Tolta’s 
Keart with horrible fancies. Owls flapped their 
white wings, and lighted near by, hooting, with 
their great staring eyes fixed on him. Then gath- 
ered about him a chorus of furies that excited every 
passion to avenge his father, massacred by Cortez 
at the foot of the altar, on which still reeked a hu- 
man sacrifice ; his mother violated and slain by the 
savage allies of the inhuman Christian ; himself, 
wounded and senseless in her defence, mangled and 
taunted by his Tezcucan foes, — but, but what? 
that but for the instant exorcised the vision, for it 
recalled to him that Juan, indignant at the wanton 
barbarity, had rescued him from their hands, and 
that Beatriz had bound up his wounds, and spoken 
to him the first words of kindness he had ever heard 
from the lips of a Spaniard. 

Could he have forgotten this, he would have 
gone straight on to his revenge without a single 
soul-qualm. As it was, fortified by his jealousy, 
and impelled by the gathering force of reawakened 
passions, the struggle of personal gratitude became 
gradually weaker, until there was nothing between 
him and his victims, except the love which he felt 
for Beatriz, and which jealousy had now all J)ut 


162 


KIANA : 


turned into hate. From out of the gloom of nature 
around him, there spoke voices and issued shapes, 
kindred to all the darker purposes of his soul. 
Guatimotzin, his butchered sovereign, whose blood 
was in his own veins, called to him from his bed of 
hot coals, not to forget his martyrdom. The spirits 
of myriads of Mexicans slain by famine were 
waving their gaunt arms, and clawing with feeble 
fingers at him, while hollow voices muttered, 

“ Avenge us, art thou not our kin ? ” and they 
pointed to the sleeping Spaniards, and wound their 
dark limbs over them in a death embrace. The 
flames of Mexico, once the pride and glory of the 
Aztec empire, now in ashes, burst upon his vision. 
He once more saw her towers and palaces glowing 
with heat and crumbling to the ground, while fire 
and smoke shut out the bright heaven above, and 
settled like a hellish pall upon his native city. His 
eye-balls became blood-shot as he strove to pene- 
trate the darkness to gainsay his vision. It was in 
vain. Far into the deep shadow beyond, and high 
above him, there glowed a bright red spot growing 
larger each minute, with flames and smoke inter- 
mingled, and ever and anon there faintly reached 
him a crashing sound like the fall of heavy bodies 
from a great elevation. There was a reality in the 
sight he could not dissipate by reason, or by gazing. 
The longer he looked, the more true it became. 
At last, tired out by his watchings, he too sunk into 
an uneasy slumber, saying to himself as his original 
purpose, with renewed craft returned to him, 
“ Away with doubt; I will obey your call, my 


A TEADITION OF HAWAII. 


163 


countrymen, or join you in the dark abodes whence 
you urge me to vengeance,” — then mingling with 
his patriotic frenzy his personal desires, he added, 
“ I will circumvent them all. The Spaniards shall 
be sacrificed, and Juan slain. Kiana and Pohaku 
must perish in the coming war. Olmedo and 
Beatriz shall believe that I have taken them away 
to save them. He shall die in attempting to escape, 
and she shall be rescued by me. It will then be time 
enough to use my opportunity, if she still resists my 
love. Alone ! whom else can she look to ? Chiefs 
and people all curse Pohaku, brute that he is. Many 
already hail me as their deliverer from his tyranny. 
Yes, love and revenge are both sweet to an Aztec. 
My parents’ slaughter shall be avenged, and these 
sacrilegious Spaniards shall learn that an Aztec’s 
hate never dies.” 


164 


KIANA : 


CHAPTER XVIII. 

“ The spirits I have raised abandon me — 

The spells which I have studied baffle me — 

The remedy I recked of tortures me.” 

Byron. 

As soon as day broke, Tolta recommenced his 
march. The route was difficult, but he hoped to 
reach Pohaku’s fortress the coming night. They 
had camped well up Mauna Kea, and as the sun 
slowly lighted the landscape, sending his rays into 
the depths of that mysterious space which lay be- 
tween them and Mauna Loa, it disclosed a scene 
that might literally be taken for the valley of the 
shadow of death. 

Its mean elevation above the sea was about four 
thousand feet, gradually rising as it approaches the 
mountains on either side; Numerous streams of 
lava, now black and vitreous, and of great extent, 
having their source in the huge volcano opposite, 
glistened in the morning sun. Several of these lay 
in their direction, and they would be obliged to 
make their way as they best could over their jagged 
and distorted surfaces. At the distance they were 
from them, they looked like cataracts of ink. Amid 
them, and scattered thickly over the plain, were 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


165 


small conical craters, regular in shape, and com- 
posed of clay and ashes. These gave to the re- 
gion the appearance of being pock-marked on a 
leviathan scale. Whirlwinds swept frequently over 
the plain, taking up high into the air columns of 
fine sand, and dispersing it with furious and blind- 
ing gusts. There was neither water nor vegetation, 
except in the immediate vicinity of Mauna Kea, or 
a long way to the eastward. In their rear, but far 
above, was perpetual snow, though not in sufficient 
masses to make a conspicuous land-mark. Imme- 
diately beneath them were piles of basaltic rocks 
and loose stones, thrown together in abrupt heaps 
on slippery beds of gravel, with now and then soil 
enough to grow coarse grasses, and stunted cassia 
trees, whose yellow blossoms were the sole bits of 
bright color permitted by nature to enliven the 
general dreariness. Far away to the left the hori- 
zon was lined with forests, that rose on its verge 
like great green billows. Before them, somewhat 
to the right, was the gigantic outline of the lofty 
crater of Mauna Loa, whose immense base occu- 
pied nearly one third of the island, rising so gradu- 
ally to its summit, as to appear in the distance like 
a huge dome, up whose sides a carriage might 
easily be drawn. The vast scale of its desolation 
may be judged of from its having on its summit, as 
already remarked, an active crater of nearly thirty 
miles in circuit. 

As Tolta turned his eyes towards this mountain, 
he saw the bright red spot that had glowed so fiery 
in liis late vision was not without foundation in 


166 


KIANA : 


fact. The edge of the crater was to be clearly seen 
with not much more than its usual volume of 
smoke. At some distance below, however, there 
• was a great rent in the mountain, out of which 
poured a stream of melted lava, rapidly making its 
way in an oblique direction between them and 
Kilauea. 

His warriors saw it at the same time, and com- 
prehending from their long experience in this re- 
gion, the necessity of despatch, if they would not 
be cut off from the territories of Pohaku beyond, 
they set forward on their march at the top of their 
speed. 

In compliance with his resolution of the previous 
night, to regain if possible the confidence of his 
captive, Tolta approached Olmedo and said, “We 
have far to go to-day. Forget my words of yester- 
day ; I was angered to see the white priest embrace 
Beatriz. Had you remained where you were, you 
would have both been slain. More I cannot now 
say ; but with Tolta you are safe, he will restore 
you to your homes when the storm is over. Con- 
fide in him. You are now free to talk with your 
daughter; but be cautious before your guards, for 
though they serve me well now, it is at the bid- 
ding of a greater chief than Kiana.” 

This artful speech confused Olmedo. He dis- 
trusted Tolta ; but he knew enough of the artifice of 
Indian character, not to give himself blindly to the 
Mexican, and at the same time not to reject him 
outright; for whatever might be his motives, on him 
alone to all appearance depended the fate of Bea- 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


167 


triz. Besides, he saw that he had him at disadvan- 
tage, from having witnessed his interview with her. 
This gave the wily Aztec an opportunity of injuring 
both in their most sensitive points, for he had learn- 
ed enough of the sacred responsibility of a Catholic 
confessor to his female flock, to see at once his 
power over the priest. Whatever else Juan might 
forgive, he would be relentless towards the dishonor- 
er of his sister. 

Olmedo, therefore, coolly thanked Tolta, saying, 
“ I trust, my son, no injury will befall us or our 
friends. Why not seek Juan ? He is needed more 
than either of us to protect his sister, if there be the 
danger you imply ? ” 

“ Ask no questions now, priest. Later you will 
know all; Juan will be with you soon. I have 
provided also for him. He would have been here 
now, had he not been absent yesterday from his 
house. Go and aid Beatriz. Inspire her with 
courage. You will have need of all your forces 
this day. See how that lava gains upon the plain 
below us,” and Tolta pointed to its red current 
which was rapidly flowing towards their intended 
track. 

Olmedo parleyed no longer with the Mexican, 
but hastened to Beatriz, and related their brief con- 
versation. “ I much fear he is false to us all,” 
added he, “ but we have no alternative now but to 
follow his directions. We shall have enough to do 
to-day, to contend with the obstacles in nature that 
threaten us, for it is plain that he fears more the 
dangers behind him, than those in front. He will 


168 


KIANA : 


not retrace his steps, — we must trust in God and 
go on.” 

The voice of Olmedo was soothing to Beatriz, 
* and with his presence she forgot her fears. Her 
anxiety for Juan was almost lost in her present joy 
in finding Olmedo free to be by her side, and she 
looked forward hopefully to meeting her brother as 
Tolta had promised. “ I am strong, Olmedo, thanks 
to my rough journeys with the army. Never fear 
for me. Be Tolta true or false, our fates are bound 
up together, and the Holy Virgin will protect us ; ” 
and she smiled so trustingly upon him, that he felt 
she was indeed protected by the Mother of God. 

They had little opportunity to talk, because the 
way was so rough as to require constant care and 
great exertion to prevent the warriors who bore the 
“ manele ” from falling. As their own lives were 
to be the forfeit should harm befall their prisoners 
before they were delivered to Pohaku, they were 
most cautious to preserve them from injury from 
the stones which frequently came rolling down the 
mountain, set in motion by the haste with which 
they clambered over them. Their activity, how- 
ever, prevented any accident, and in a few hours 
they arrived at the less rugged plain, where they 
halted near a spring of water, from which they 
replenished their stock, as it was the last they 
could hope to fall in with during the day. 

But little rest was allowed. Tolta was afraid of 
pursuit, while his men were even more fearful of 
the volcanic eruption. The immediate outbreak 
was now hid from them by an intervening ridge, 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


169 


but ti.vi smoke and, explosions continued to increase 
very perceptibly. Their course was for the present 
more rapid, as it was on comparatively level ground. 
The soil being of loose ashes, was, however, fa- 
tiguing to the step, . except where the smooth lava 
rock cropped out. Over that they could go at a 
quick pace, and thus make up for their previous 
slower progress. Such scanty vegetation as this 
district afforded was soon passed, and they came 
upon the region of dead streams of lava, emphati- 
cally known as clinkers. Some of them were 
several miles in width, and tried the endurance of 
the party greatly. As it was impossible, to carry 
Beatrix farther on the “ manele,” it was abandoned. 
They had now to climb over huge fragments of 
lava, of obsidian hardness, and as sharp and brittle 
as glass, continually breaking into minute pieces 
that frequently cut through their sandals, and 
wounded their feet, so that their course might have 
been tracked for some distance by blood. Tolta 
had provided against this contingency by spare 
sandals, otherwise his expedition would have been 
crippled midway — equally unable to advance or 
retreat. Olmedo lifted Beatrix over the roughest 
passages, assisted by the stoutest warriors, who, on 
several occasions, caught him and his burden just 
in time to save them from severe bruises. None 
escaped some injuries, for it was often necessary to 
crawl for short distances over steep masses so slip- 
pery and friable, as to cause many a slide and frac- 
ture,^ ending in cut limbs. Imagine all the slag 
from all the forges and glass factories, that have 
15 


170 


kiana: 


ever existed, thrown confusedly on the ground, in 
pieces from the size of hillocks to that of peas, 
shivered into every variety of pointed and cragged 
fragments, and an idea of the highway over which 
they were now making their way may be formed. 

To add to their delays it began to rain, and by 
the time they had got to the smoother ground 
beyond, a fog set in, so dense as to obscure the 
landmarks by which they had hitherto been guided. 
The oldest warriors were now at fault. After wan- 
dering for some time at random, the fruitlessness 
of such exertions compelled them to stop. So 
many hours had been consumed in disentangling 
themselves from the clinkers, that it was nigh dark. 
There was no remedy but to seek the best camping 
spot the locality offered. Tolta ordered several 
couples of the men to explore about them in differ- 
ent directions, keeping within hail of the main 
party. In a half hour they returned, and reported 
having found a cave on the edge of a dwarf Ohia 
wood. To this they went, and with a fire made 
themselves tolerably comfortable. With the refine- 
ment, in which the Aztec nobility were bred, Tolta 
screened a portion of the cave for the sole use of 
Beatriz, and with tapa mantles made for her not an 
unwelcome retreat from the storm without and the 
rude men within. Olmedo was permitted to remain 
near by, but Tolta kept beside him. The rain 
poured in torrents and made its way through the 
roof, wetting the floor, while the smoke from the 
fire with difficulty escaped into the open air. Yet, 
amid all this discomfort, Olmedo offered up his 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


171 


evening prayer, Beatriz joining in the usual hymn, 
with a voice that seemed to the stilled warriors to 
come from another world, so melodious was it even 
to their dull ears, in contrast with the barbarous 
chants of their own- women. 

The captives found it difficult to sleep in the 
confined air of the cave, which grew more hot and 
stifling as the fire died out. Occasionally fatigue 
overpowered them and they dosed ; but they were 
oftener awake, from a restlessness they could not 
account for, and which kept their senses in that 
dreamy, vague condition, which neither admits of 
perfect consciousness nor salutary rest. At inter- 
vals a hoarse blast, and a dull heavy roar, like the 
sudden escape of vast volumes of ignited gases, 
startled their ears. Several times the cave trem- 
bled as if in an ague fit ; once so violently that a 
loosened rock fell near the guards and caused them 
all to start up. For a few seconds they staggered 
like sea-sick men, but recognizing the breathings of 
the volcano, with which they were familiar, they 
merely ejaculated, “ Pele is sporting to-night in the 
fire-surf,” and laid themselves down again to sleep. 

At the earliest light all were on foot for a fresh 
start. The rain had ceased, but the atmosphere 
was lurid and heavy, and respiration more or less 
difficult. They found themselves upon a knoll of 
considerable dimensions, lightly wooded, and sur- 
rounded by a sea of lava, over which they could 
not see far on account of the smoke and steam 
arising from it in all directions. During the night 
a fresh flow had spread itself over the clinkers they 


172 


KIANA : 


had passed the day before. It was now so hot and 
vaporous as to cut off all retreat in that direction. 

As the wind at times dispersed the smoke, they 
caught glimpses of the fountain-head of the stream, 
apparently some fifteen miles from them, and about 
half way up the mountain. It was not a violent 
eruption, but poured out at short intervals, with 
roarings and tremblings of the earth, huge masses 
of molten rock of the hue of blood, which de- 
scended rapidly towards them. In spots it sud- 
denly disappeared, emerging at some distance, and 
continuing its course with renewed rapidity. This 
was caused by its meeting with an obstacle it had 
not sufficient volume to overwhelm, but was driven 
to eat its way underground, forrning galleries, which, 
when cooled and emptied of the lava, leave caves 
sometimes of great extent and intricacy. This 
alternate appearing and disappearing of the crim- 
son fluid amid the surrounding blackness, gave it 
the look of the glaring eyes of huge basilisks, 
watching in desert caverns for their prey. At times 
it leaped precipices with a furious, fiery plunge, 
scattering its hot spray on all sides, rock and forest 
alike recoiling from its destructive touch, shivering 
into a thousand fragments, or melting with the fer- 
vent heat, and swelling the consuming tide. 

The progress of the torrent towards them was 
so rapid, as to leave but little time for reflection. 
It was gradually rising all around, and threatened 
to submerge the knoll, which as yet had escaped. 
Many of the trees on its skirts had already been 
crisped and blackened with the heat; some had 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


173 


fallen, the trunks being burned off near the ground? 
while the branches lay unconsumed, on the lava 
stream, which cools and hardens very rapidly, pre- 
senting a surface often sufficiently strong to bear a 
man’s weight, even while the crimson current is 
flowing underneath. This fact was suggested to 
Tolta by his men as the most likely means of 
escape. Indeed none other seemed to offer. 

Accordingly, they sought the stream in the direc- 
tion in which it was narrowest and firmest. Ten 
of the warriors spread themselves out in the form of 
a fan, sounding their way with their spears as if on 
ice, for fear of air-holes, and to test the strength of 
its surface. The remainder of the party followed, 
more or less apart, with great caution, holding their 
breaths to lighten their weights. Their feet were 
protected by rough sandals, and bits of wood strap- 
ped to them, from the lava, which was in spots still 
so warm as frequently to raise blisters. Where it 
had suddenly cooled it had split up into deep 
chasms, raised cones, and twisted and cracked into 
every variety of shape. It was therefore with the 
greatest difficulty that any progress could be made. 
They persevered, however, when a sudden crack 
was heard, and at the same instant a shriek of 
agony. The foremost of the warriors had trodden 
upon the thin crust where it had been puffed up 
by the air, and, being as brittle as glass, it had 
broken and let him down into the liquid lava be- 
neath. 

Appalled by his fate, the whole party halted. To 
go on was impossible, as it was evident they had 
15 * 


174 


KIANA : 


reached the extreme verge of solid lava. All be- 
yond was either fluid, or so densely covered with 
sulphurous vapor, that it was sure death to ad- 
vance. They retraced their steps without a min- 
ute’s delay, and it was none too soon. A fresh 
wave of lava was fast descending towards them, 
and setting the crust on which they were all in 
motion. Suddenly a vein of red lava showed itself 
in a narrow chasm, over which several of the war- 
riors had already leaped. At the same moment, 
detonating gases were heard near by, and then 
louder explosions, from which the air was fast be- 
coming impregnated with deadly vapors. Beatriz, 
sinking from their suffocating effects, faintly said to 
Olmedo, ‘‘ My father, I can go no farther, — my 
strength is all gone.” 

He had been sustaining her for some time past, 
and felt himself scarcely stronger, but roused by her 
danger he seized her in his arms and was about to 
leap the fiery chasm, when he stumbled and par- 
tially fell, with both their weights overhanging its 
brink. Quicker than thought the men nearest 
seized them, and, before a word could be uttered, by 
a violent effort they had cleared the chasm, but not 
before all were slightly scorched by the heat which 
flickered above it. They had scarcely time to leave 
the spot before it discharged a stream of viscid lava, 
which pursued them coiling and twisting after their 
footsteps like a wounded snake. As it was an easy 
matter to outrun this, they soon got back to the 
knoll, which now rose like an island above the 
molten flood. 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


175 



The Hawaiians, breathless with their efforts, sat 
down and gazed hopelessly upon the rising lava. 
A dense poisonous smoke was gradually narrowing 
their horizon all around and slowly approaching, 
leaving no hope of escaping suffocation, even if 
they were spared a more immediate and violent 
death. Their position was far worse than to be on 
a burning prairie, for fire can then be made to fight 
fire as the ally of man. Here all nature was melt- 
ing before the heat of the eruption. At any instant 
the solid rock on which they sat might surge and 
toss like the waves of the ocean, in blazing, gory- 
hued billows, while of themselves not one particle 
of matter would survive to disclose their fate. The 
fast increasing heat soon drove them to the centre 
of the hill, where sheltered by a pile of stones they 
had a moment’s respite. 

Tojta, leaving his men, searched everywhere for 
another chance to cross the lava, but was driven 


176 


KIANA : 


back, scorched and faint, to the knoll. “ Am I to 
die here like a scorpion encircled by fire ? ” said he, 
in a rage at his futile efforts. “ Was it for this that 
* I have plotted vengeance, and to possess Beatriz ? 
Juan to escape, and she to die with me the death of 
a dog; curses upon Pele and her demon crew! 
Great god of Mexico, if thou art not thyself become 
a slave to the Christian’s God, save thy servant!” 
and he shook his fist at the hot lava in the fury of 
his despair. 


A TEADITION OP HAWAII. 


177 


CHAPTER XIX. 

This inhuman cavern — 

It were too bad a prison-house for goblins. 

no place safe but this ! ” 

Coleridge. 

Mutual terror forces hostile animals into peace- 
ful companionship. Under its influence the wolf 
lies down as quietly beside the lamb as if in the 
kingdom of love. The extremes of faith and edu- 
cation produce in man under threatened, speedy 
death, much the same outward result. Pohaku’s 
warriors, bred in cruelty, and believing only in ma- 
lignant deities, viewed their fast coming fate with 
sullen indifference. So long as there was hope in 
their exertions they were ready to show themselves 
men, but when death looked them right in the face, 
they were equally ready to proffer their breasts to 
his stroke without further struggle. Their instincts 
taught them that as life was beyond their control, 
so was death. He was a foe they could not con- 
quer, neither should he triumph in their fear. Thus 
in his ignorance and unbelief the savage meets the 
great change with an insensibility, which, in its 
outward calm, rivals the faith of the Christian. 

Having abandoned hope, they sat stoically re- 


178 


KIANA : 


garding the rising tide of lava, — seldom speaking, 
for it was a scene in which nature, uniting them by 
• a common feeling, made speech useless. The air 
grew hotter each second. Puffs of steam issued 
from the rocks near by. At times a thick cloud of 
suffocating vapor swept so close to them, that they 
were obliged to hold their breaths until it passed. 

Olmedo and Beatriz, with their hands joined, 
calmly awaited their end. As the danger drew 
nigher they shrunk closer together, each impul- 
sively seeking to shield the other. 

“ How terrible this is, Olmedo, to see earth and 
air on fire,” said Beatriz to him, in a voice scarce 
above a whisper. “ Look, it will soon reach us.” 
She shuddered and was silent for a minute, but 
recovering herself, added, with her eyes seeing only 
him, “ it will be sweet to enter heaven together, 
will it not, my more than father ? ” She thought 
of him now only as the being who had awakened 
in her faith and feelings, which made her look for- 
ward with joy to celestial freedom. 

“ Yes, my daughter, this is indeed a terrible sight. 
Nature perishes like a scroll in the flames. The 
last day has indeed come upon us, and we shall 
soon see the Holy One and his Saints. Have no 
fear. As we have fought the good fight, so shall 
we be welcomed into the joy of our Lord. But my 
soul faints for these poor heathen, who await their 
death with such unconcern. Would that I could 
even now baptize them into the true faith.” 

In the meantime Tolta had returned from his 
fruitless endeavor to find an avenue for escape. In 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


179 


his anger, he had cursed the gods of Hawaii and 
denied his own, from whom no succor came. More 
enlightened and cultivated than the Hawaiians, 
with a moral conviction of the superior truths of the 
Catholic faith, yet hating it for the injuries it had 
brought upon him and his country, Tolta was filled 
with distracting emotions. The Spaniard’s deity 
might even now save them, as he had ever shown 
himself so much more powerful than his own, but 
he disdained to call upon him, and the very sight of 
the crucifix which Olmedo wore filled him with 
fresh anger. 

He felt that his treachery had brought this awful 
fate upon those of all the Spanish race, who had 
never done him evil. This was a source of misery 
to him, but far weaker than that which sprung 
from having his hopes baffled by so unexpected and 
lingering a death, which in releasing his victims, 
consigned himself to the accumulated horrors of his 
own and the Christian’s hell. Oppressed by these 
thoughts, believing but contemning repentance ; 
seeing that just retribution was seeking him out, 
yet bidding it defiance ; sorrowing, not for his self- 
ish passions, but for their defeat, he crept back 
despairing, and laying himself down close to the feet 
of Beatriz, said to her, “We shall all burn together. 
You will go to the Virgin Mother and I to darkness, 
— to despair, — to any hell that shall release me 
from the sight of the hated white man — curses 
upon them all,” and covering his head with his 
mantle he shut out all outward objects, and re- 
mained as motionless as if turned to stone. 


180 


KIANA : 


Olmedo made no appeal to him, comprehending 
its uselessness, but turning to the warriors, spoke to 
. them of a brighter world which awaited them if 
they would trust in the Christian’s God and be 
baptized. “ Renounce your demon idols and call 
upon the Saviour this represents,” said he, holding 
up his crucifix, and pointing to a calabash of water, 
added, “ you can be baptized and saved even at the 
last hour.” 

“We have offended Pele,” one of them replied, 
“ and she dooms us. No one can escape her anger. 
More powerful is she than your deity. You and 
your god will soon be but ashes. See how she 
rides the air, spouting fire in her anger ! She comes, 
she comes!” ^^auwel auwe!'^'^ and a mournful and 
prolonged wail, like the death-song of the Indian, 
burst from their united lips, as a shower of hot 
cinders began to fall so thick and fast as to obscure 
the little light that had reached them through the 
smoke, which the wind had hitherto in a consider- 
able degree kept oft'. 

“ The cave, Olmedo, the cave, — quick, quick ! ” 
cried Beatriz, grasping his hand to urge him for- 
ward. Tolta started up at the call, like one re- 
touched with life, and the three were soon under its 
shelter. 

The warriors remained as Olmedo last spoke 
to them, either not hearing the cry of Beatriz, or 
preferring to meet their death like soldiers at their 
posts in the open air. Their wail continued to be 
heard to the latest moment, rising from a low 
monotonous, tremulous note of suppressed suffering 


A TRADITION OR HAWAII. 


181 


into a prolonged chorus of muffled shrieks, that fell 
upon the ears of Beatriz and Olmedo like the last 
despairing cry of humanity, and thrilled their hearts 
with horror. For an instant it made them regard- 
less of their own safety, and they turned back a step 
or two, calling upon the warriors to follow, but the 
burning ashes fell so fast that they were immedi- 
ately driven still farther into the recesses of the 
cave. Their ears were ringing with the dismal 
wail; the, effect of which from sheer sympathetic 
force, is to enhance the bitterness of grief and para- 
lyze joyous emotion, so that the listener is changed 
into the mourner, despite his own indifference to the 
cause. In this case, the sensibilities of the priest 
and maiden were the more acute from their own 
participation in the dangers which were bringing a 
lingering death upon so many of their number, 
added to their inability to render any assistance. 
Doubtless the stupefaction from the poisonous 
gases, with which the atmosphere was laden, 
added to their own exhaustion from previous 
efforts, aided to make the warriors so indifferent to 
their fate. No one replied to the call of Olmedo, 
or even to the authoritative voice of Tolta, who 
had at last roused himself at the clearer perception 
of their ^ situation, and with reawakened energies 
was prepared to continue his exertions to escape. 

It was impossible for them to remain near the 
mouth of the cave, so they lighted some torches of 
the Itukui nut, and proceeded to explore it. “We 
may find it deep enough to screen us from the lava 
and fatal air,” said Olmedo. “ Here are the remains 
16 


182 


KIANA : 


too of our last night’s provisions, which those poor 
heathen left here this morning. Alas! for their 
souls ! Come, Beatriz, you shall yet see Juan. Eat 
a morsel to sustain your strength,” and he gave the 
example, more to persuade her than to appease his 
own hunger. 

Tolta scowled at the confiding smile Beatriz 
gave to the priest as she complied with his advice, 
but he ate also, and the three found in the short 
respite from the sights and sounds of the outer air, 
helped as it was by much needed food, a renewal 
of mental and physical energies which surprised 
them. It seemed as if they were aroused from some 
oppressive dream. 

The extent of the cave tempted them on. It 
descended at first somewhat abruptly. At the dis- 
tance of a hundred rods from the entrance the 
passage grew narrow, and was partially choked 
with stones, which had fallen from overhead. By 
some labor the two men cleared the way for Beatriz 
to follow, and they found themselves in a large 
chamber, where the air was quite fresh in contrast 
with what they had been breathing for hours past. 
This revived them still more. The roof was covered 
with stalactites of great size, and had the appearance 
of having been long undisturbed. Occasionally a 
slight jar was perceptible in the ground, and a low 
warning sound of disturbed elements was heard. 
They were encouraged to go on by finding both 
decreased as they advanced. Once, only, there was 
a shock so severe that they paused in stupor, fancy- 
ing that the rock above them was being crushed 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


183 


in. But, with the exception of a few loose stones 
that rattled down, no harm was done. Evidently 
the eruption was either abating, or they were get- 
away from it. Still . to wander at random in an 
intricate cave, which might at any moment bury 
them in its ruins, or become a living sepulchre by 
tempting them away from one danger to meet the 
still more horrible fate of starvation in utter dark- 
ness, for their food and lights could not last much 
longer, were not thoughts at all calculated to raise 
their courage. 

Something, however, tempted them to keep on. 
So long as they were in action, hope buoyed them 
up. Owing to the frequent turnings of the cave, 
it was impossible to have a clue as to their real 
direction. It was a series of halls or rooms, some 
of which were lofty and spacious, joined by long, 
tortuous and low passages, at times so barricad- 
ed by rocky debris as to almost arrest further 
progress. Tolta, however, was indefatigable in 
clearing a way through them, as he was the first to 
explore, while Olmedo and Beatriz waited his re- 
port. 

Upon emerging into a larger hall than the others, 
they thought they heard the noise of running water. 
It grew louder as they approached the farther end, 
where the torches showed to them a stream, which 
directly crossed their path. It appeared to issue 
from the solid rock, but their light was so faint it 
was impossible to discern anything clearly, except 
the quick flow of the black waters before them, 
while not far below they heard a roar and dash 


184 


KIANA : 


as of a cascade or a rapid descent among rocks and 
chasms. 

Here, indeed, was an obstacle undreamed of. 
Fire cut off their retreat on one side, and water 
their progress on the other. Beatriz, already well 
nigh exhausted, said to Olmedo, “We can go no 
farther. Tell Tolta to save himself if it be possible. 
He can swim and may find his way out, but we 
must remain here and await our fate. Let us by 
prayer prepare to resign ourselves to what must 
now soon come. With you I shall have no fear of 
death in any shape.” 

Beatriz no more thought of the possibility of 
Olmedo’s leaving her, even if he could escape, than 
she would have consented to have left him to perish 
by himself. It never occurred to her, therefore, to 
urge him to an effort without her. 

“ Beatriz, my long loved one, my more than 
daughter in faith, if die we now must, we will be 
one in death as we have ever been in our lives. 
But take courage, we are not to perish so. God 
has not brought us thus far, to abandon us. I 
hail this water as a happy omen. What say you, 
Tolta?” 

“ When water comes it must go. Fivers do not 
long flow underground. They love light as do the 
trees and flowers. I will see how the other side 
looks,” replied the Mexican. 

Holding his torch above his head, he waded in. 
The water was warm and sulphurous and refreshed 
him; but it soon became so rapid and deep as to 
require all his skill as a swimmer to prevent being 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


185 


drawn too near the gulf, whose warning roar was 
heard not far below. Beatriz and Olmedo watched 
his progress anxiously, for fear he might be drifted 
into the rapids, but his light soon showed by its 
steadiness that he had reached ground on the 
farther side. A few minutes of suspense ensued, 
when suddenly he shouted, “We are saved! we 
shall soon see daylight!” and plunging into the 
water again, pushing something before him, he was 
quickly back. “ See,” said he, “ here is a log hoi-* 
lowed out into a rough canoe. This cave must have 
an outlet near by, for I see that the natives come 
here to bath and sport by torch-light. Hurry, and 
you shall see for yourselves the traces of their 
presence. ” 

Beatriz, at the direction of Olmedo, who could 
swim, placed herself on the log with her feet in the 
water. It had .scarcely buoyancy enough to support 
her weight, but with Tolta on one side and the 
priest on the other keeping it upright, she was 
ferried safely over. 

It was as Tolta had said. Fragments of food and 
other tokens of a recent visit were strewed about. 
The air also was purer. With lighter spirits they 
went on, over an easier path than the one they had 
traversed, and in about twenty minutes began to 
see glimmerings of light. After climbing a steep 
and narrow ascent, the mouth of the cave came in 
sight,' and they shortly found themselves in the 
open air. 

For a few minutes they were unable to discern 
objects distinctly, but as they became able to look 
16 * 


186 


KIANA : 


about, they saw that they were some distance from 
. the line of the eruption which was still active, but 
the wind now blew its smoke and gases from them. 
The country was wooded, and for this region fertile. 
It had suffered much from the vicinity of the lava 
stream, the vegetation being either killed or wilted 
by the heat. 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


187 


CHAPTER XX. 


** A smile amid dark frowns! A gentle tone 
Amid rude voices — a beloved light, 

A solitude, a refuge, a delight! ” 

Shelley. 

Night being close at hand, the rescued party lost 
no time in leaving the vicinity of the torrent of 
lava, hoping to find a path which would bring 
them to the food and shelter which they so greatly 
needed. Tolta knew he was within the immediate 
territory of Pohaku, and was desirous to meet some 
of Jiis people, to make sure of his captives, who 
were now quite as able to exert their wills as to 
the course they should take, as he his. But they 
were wholly ignorant of their position, while he 
began to discern familiar landmarks. The recent 
danger which they had all incurred and escaped 
together, occupied the thoughts of Beatriz and Ol- 
medo, more than the outrage which had led them 
into it, so they made no opposition to the direction 
he prepared to take. 

This led them at first obliquely towards a stream 
of lava, which was still running at about two miles 
from them to the northeast. For some time their 
path was comparatively smooth. But at intervals 


188 


KIANA : 


it was crossed by crevices in the earth, some of 
, which were so wide that they were compelled to 
make long circuits to get round them. The air 
from them was quivering with heat, and filled with 
noxious gases. Tolta was frequently obliged to 
leave his companions in order to explore the ground, 
which became, as they advanced, more and more 
cut up with chasms, whose depths the eye often 
could not reach. , Had it not been daylight these 
fissures would have made their present position 
scarcely less hazardous than their confinement in 
the cave, for at every throe of the crater they 
threw out jets of steam, and filled the atmosphere 
with poisonous fumes. Once or twice they came 
upon them so suddenly, that they were obliged to 
cover their heads with their mantles, and rush 
through the vapor at full speed. Fortunately they 
proved to be but puffs, which required but an 
instant’s exertion to emerge from. 

Beatriz had grown so faint and fatigued as to be 
forced often to stop to gather breath and strength. 
On one of these occasions Tolta had gone farther 
from them than usual, in search of the path which 
he hoped to strike, and which led direct to Pohaku’s 
fortress. Not finding it, he was returning in an- 
other direction, when his progress was stopped by a 
broad chasm, which poured forth so hot a blast as 
to singe his clothes and crisp his hair, as he heed- 
lessly looked into it. Jumping quickly back, he 
followed its edge in search of a spot narrow enough 
for him to leap across. In doing this he came upon 
the path he had been looking for. It led through 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


189 


low bushes which partly hid it. He was about 
taking the shortest track back to where he had left 
Olmedo and Beatriz, when his eye was caught by 
a human form stretched lifeless upon the ground. 
Going towards it, to his surprise he recognized one 
of the warriors whom he had sent to capture the 
three Spaniards. It was plain that he had been 
stiff and cold for some hours. Not far from him 
he found the entire party, with the three Spaniards 
bound and lying on their backs, in the centre of 
their guards. One by one he felt of them to detect 
life. There were no signs of external violence on 
their bodies. Each lay apparently as he had fallen 
asleep. The faces and limbs of some were slightly 
contracted, showing that they had become con- 
scious of their danger, when powerless to escape. 
All were dead. They had encamped too near the 
chasm, and, during the night, by a change of wind, 
the fatal air had been blown upon them, and they 
had perished in their dreams to a man.* 

“ Pele balks me every way — the foul goddess ! 
may she be blasted in her own fires,” muttered 
Tolta, as he turned in angry mood from the scene. 
“ She leaves me only those I would not sacrifice. 
I hate the priest, yet I would he might die by other 
hands than mine. Pshaw ! why should I feel ten- 
derness towards that puling monk I Who so 
stands between me and Beatriz as he ? But while 
Juan fives I have much to do. This is no sight for 

* This is not fiction. A large party of warriors once met their 
death in this way, while others of their company, encamped not far 
off, escaped. 


190 


KIANA : 


Beatriz and Olmedo to see. I will send and get 
the heads of the Spaniards. In death even they 
shall be present at the feast which was to have 
been their sacrifice. May their souls rot in ever- 
lasting darkness.” 

Joining Olmedo and Beatriz, he led them into 
the path by a course which kept their eyes from 
the fatal spot. “ Hasten,” said he, “ we shall 
shortly find succor.” 

“ Beatriz needs it much,” replied OlmedO ; “ see 
with what effort she sustains herself.” 

“ Oh I say not so, Olmedo. I am still equal to 
any exertion. The hot air made me giddy for a 
moment, but now the fresh breeze revives me.” 
But her action belied her words, and she would 
have fallen that moment if Olmedo had not caught 
her. 

“ Tolta, you have greatly erred in exposing this 
maiden to these dangers. What tempted you to 
such a wrong to one who never gave you offence. 
The blood, too, of those heathen warriors, does it 
not lie heavy on your soul? You have made a 
sad day of it ? ” said Olmedo to the Mexican, 
more in grief than in anger, as he helped Beatriz 
to reach a grassy slope on which she could recline. 

‘‘Ha, priest! you reproach me with this day’s 
work ! Am I a god to control the volcano ? Come 
with me a few steps, and you shall see from what 
you have been saved.” He grasped Olmedo’s arm, 
and led him to the group of the dead. “ You and 
the maiden you love, chaste monk,” continued he 
with artful sarcasm, “ have escaped this. Had I 


A TKADITION OF HAWAII. 


191 


not borne you off, these soldiers would have seized 
you, and if they had spared Beatriz outrage, it 
would have been for you all either to have died 
together, like dogs, poisoned by the gases of the 
volcano, or they would have carried you as prison- 
ers to their chief, who awaits your arrival even 
now, to offer you in solemn sacrifice to Pele. He 
has sworn to exterminate you Spaniards, and Ki- 
ana’s power will be but smoke before the wind in 
contact with his. All .of you I could not save ! 
Have I reason to love a Spaniard ? ” 

Pointing to the corpses of the three seamen, he 
added in a seemingly friendly tone, “ They have 
been spared such torture as even we Mexicans, 
skilled as we are in tormenting our enemies, never 
learned ; for Pole’s worshippers are fiends. Re- 
proach me not with their deaths, for it was given 
to them in mercy. You and the maiden are my 
benefactors ; for your sakes I will save Juan also, 
if it be possible. You must go with me. Follow 
my directions, and you will be safe. No more 
words now. If you would keep Beatriz from fur- 
ther harm, cease to chafe me.” 

Returning to where she sat, they again slowly 
pursued their journey. As Tolta hurried on in 
advance, Olmedo whispered to Beatriz, “ I much 
fear the Mexican intends evil. I would not wrong 
him, but I do not like his words, and his eye often 
gleams as if the eyil spirit of his race were aroused 
withiu him.” 

He did not tell her what he had seen, but merely 
added, “Watch, and beware of him. He can do 


192 


KIANA : 



US much good or ill. Now we can do but little for 
ourselves. The blessed mother of God will not 
desert you, rest assured, my beloved daughter.” 
Even with his arm about her waist she walked 
with difficulty, while her head frequently drooped 
heavily upon his shoulder. 

“ I have no fear, Olmedo, for myself,” she faintly 
replied. “We have together too often looked upon 
death to shrink from it now as a stranger. To 
leave you, would make me indeed sad, but with 
you,— God forgive me if my heart sins in saying 
so, — it would be most welcome ? But look, who 
comes here?”' v 

As she spoke, a crowd of natives, of both sexes, 
drew nigh from a cross path. They did not see the 
party until they were close upon them. Tolta was 
at once recognized, and giving him the customary 



> 





I 





A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


193 


“ Aloha kealii^’' ‘ love to you chief,’ they turned in 
surprise towards the white strangers. They had 
heard of the Spaniards, but knowing nothing of 
Tolta’s expedition, were amazed to find these 
strange beings in their midst. Forming a circle 
around them, they gazed curiously and timidly at 
Olmedo and Beatriz, now and then venturing to 
touch their clothes and feel of their persons, but 
evidently with no unfriendly intent. 

The party was composed chiefly of women and 
children, who had been enjoying themselves in wild 
dances. A few young men, hardly beyond boy- 
hood, were witfi them, but no warriors. 

Tolta ordered some to lead the way to their vil- 
lage, while others were sent on in advance to pre- 
pare food and lodging for the strangers, who he said 
would be their guests for the night. As they began 
with alacrity to fulfil his orders, a maiden of not 
above fourteen years, accompanied by a train of 
her own sex, of more mature age, and who showed 
her great deference, came up. As soon as the 
crowd saw her, they made way submissively for 
her to approach the whites. 

No fawn could tread lighter than she trod. Every 
motion was lithe and elastic. Her limbs were full 
and tapering, beautifully proportioned, and her flesh 
soft yet springy. With so few summers she was 
mature in person, having in this climate attained 
thus early that perfection of physical development, 
which marks the most seductive period of woman. 
The fineness of her hands; the tapering fingers and 
nicely adjusted wrists ; the velvet softness of her 
17 


194 


KIANA : 


clear olive skin, and through which the blood could 
be distinctly seen underlying it with richer color ; 
and her proud, yet graceful carriage, showed that 
she belonged to the highest rank. 

She was indeed one of Nature’s pets. Her face 
was open and sunny. To one who rigidly exacted 
the fineness of Grecian outline in each feature of 
the face, some fault might be found with the ful- 
ness of the lip and nostril. But this was so slight 
that it was lost in the generous loving smile, laugh- 
ing, sensuous eye, — sympathy in the joyful and 
beautiful which sparkled in her countenance. This, 
with a consciousness of rank, and a dignity which 
had never suffered from the passions of rivalry and 
ambition, made Liliha, — for such was the name 
of the maiden, — a specimen of natural loveliness, 
which the salons of civilization might not excel, 
except in the acquired refinements of intellectual 
life. 

She wore on her neck a wreath of rich yellow 
feathers. Another of gossamer lightness, the effect of 
which was increased by alternate rows of crimson 
feathers, was interwoven with her long dark wavy 
hair. Over her delicately moulded bosom was 
thrown a loose white mantle, which hid her form as 
the foam conceals the wave, but to heighten its 
beauty. 

She was no less surprised than her people at the 
apparition of the whites. Tolta she had heard of 
as the companion of Pohaku, but had never seen 
him. “ Who is it that gives orders in my presence,” 
she asked somewhat haughtily, as she stepped 
forward. 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


195 


Tolta advanced to greet her, and made himself 
known. Acknowledging his claim to her aid by 
the tie of allegiance to the supreme chief, she coolly 
repeated his orders, as if through her only they 
should be given, and then with courteous manner 
turned to Beatriz, took her hand and said, “ You 
are welcome. Come with me ; the daughter of 
Hewahewa will be the friend of the pale maiden.” 

Beatriz looked her thanks, and simply said, “ My 
father needs your hospitality too. We will gladly 
make your home ours until we can return to our 
own.” 

Tolta kept silent. It was dark before the party 
arrived at the abode of Liliha, which was in a con- 
siderable village, pleasantly situated in the centre of 
one of the few verdant spots to be found in that re- 
gion. Olmedo was allowed to occupy one of the 
best houses, where every attention was shown him. 
Liliha led Beatriz to her own habitation, where she 
was received with true Hawaiian hospitality. At 
a signal from their mistress, her waiting women 
made her up a couch of the finest mats, and before 
retiring they so refreshed her by their gentle, sooth- 
ing manipulations,* by which the pain was drawn 

* Lomilomi, as this process is called, is peculiar to Polynesia, for 
the Asiatic shampooing is but a rough substitute In Hawaii it was 
an art, and as much a necessary rite of hospitality to the fatigued 
traveller, or even of luxurious pleasure, as the wine cup in Europe. 
By it, /commencing with almost imperceptible pressure, from the 
softest hands, every part of the body was gradually submitted to 
gently increasing force, until each muscle was kneaded and each 
joint stretched and cracked, and the whole frame, with fatigue re- 
moved and endowed with fresh vitality, was lulled into slumber or 


196 


KIANA : 


out from her wearied limbs, that she was soon able 
to sleep soundly. 

recruited for fresh exercise. The Hawaiian Sybarites had invented a- 
pleasure unknown to the Roman. The latter, to have the greater 
capacity for gorging at their feasts, were wont to prepare themselves 
by emetics, but the more ingeniously sensual savage first eat his fill, 
and then resigned himself into the hands of skilled and meretricious 
women, who, by their ingenious substitute of artificial action of the 
muscles for natural exercise, hastened digestion without the trouble 
of locomotion to the effeminate Hawaiian, and by a most deliciously 
sense-exciting and restoring process, prepared him for fresh gratifi- 
cation of his appetites. In this respect we need not regret that the 
refinement of the art has departed from Hawaii,- but the voyager who 
has once experienced it in its genuineness, cannot but prize its 
virtues. 


A. TEADITION OF HAWAII. 


197 


CHAPTER XXI. 

“ Give her but a least excuse to love me ! ” — R. Browning. 

“ But he 

Can visit thee with dreader woe than death’s.” — E. B. Browning. 

As soon as Tolta had seen his captives disposed 
of for the night, he despatched a messenger to 
Pohaku, requesting a few warriors to be sent him. 
The fortress was but twelve miles distant, so that 
before daybreak the men had arrived. Taking 
every precaution not to let his movements be seen 
by any one who would communicate them to 
Lilijia, he entered the house where Olmedo was 
still sleeping, and told him he must rise and follow 
him. 

“ Nay, Tolta, I will not leave Beatriz,’’ said Ol- 
medo, firmly. 

“ She will join you immediately,” replied Tolta. 
“ Up, priest, if you would save yourself and her.” 

“ Whence this untimely haste, Tolta ? The poor 
child now rests. To you we owe the perils and fa- 
tigues of our abduction. I will trust you no further, 
but remain amid these friendly natives until Juan 
can learn where we are.” 

“ Ha ! do you brave me ? It is time then to throw 
off the mask ! Have you forgotten, monk, that you 
17 * 


198 


KIANA : 


are in the power of the son of an Aztec priest, slain 
by the sacrilegious hands of your countrymen ? 
Priest for priest, — life for life, — my father’s blood 
cries for thine, — to-morrow’s sun will set on your 
sacrifice. No more shall you hold fond dalliance 
with the white maiden. She is my spoil.” 

“ What mean you, Mexican ? What words are 
these ? You rave ! You cannot, — you dare not in- 
jure Beatriz! Nay, — you seek to alarm me. It is 
a jest, — is it not, Tolta? Your heart will not let 
you ruin that pure being, whose life has been a 
good gift to you as well as me.” 

“ Silence ! I can listen no longer to this babble. 
We must be off. A Mexican is not wont to be 
moved by the tongue of a Spaniard.” 

Olmedo started up and looked around for some 
means of defence, but before he could even call for 
help, Tolta’s men, at a signal from him, had seized 
and bound him. Taking him upon their shoulders 
in silence, they left the house and rapidly bore him 
towards Pohaku’s quarters. His mouth and eyes 
being bandaged, he was unable to cry out or to ob- 
tain any clue to his route. They hurried him on, 
and early in the morning, bruised by their rough 
handling, he found himself deposited on the ground 
apparently in a house, and there left by himself. 

Tolta had now obtained one great object, which 
was to secure Olmedo in the fortress, while Beatriz, 
equally in his power, was removed from the imme- 
diate presence of Pohaku. 

Hewahewa, the father of Liliha, was the high- 
priest of Pele. Second only to Pohaku in authority, 


A TBADITION OJF HAWAII. 


199 


he was his superior in influence, from his position 
as the chief minister of the goddess. Himself a 
skeptic, believing in none of the grosser supersti- 
tions of the people, and using them merely as a 
source of power, he was indifferent to everything 
but his own ambition. His lands were the best 
cultivated, and his tenantry the most favored of all 
this portion of Hawaii, because being tabu, the wars 
and anarchy which so generally prevailed spared 
them. Rigorous in conforming to all the rites of 
his fearful worship, he expiated his external hypoc- 
risy by inward contempt. But his mind, though 
intelligent, had never conceived any purer system, 
and only busied itself in scheming to turn the na- 
tional mythology to his individual profit. He was 
the rival of Pohaku, but for the present coalesced 
with him. Not being of the highest blood, he was 
obliged to rely for his influence mainly upon his 
increasing importance as a priest, but was slowly 
making his way to supreme rule, aided much by 
the tyranny of Pohaku, to whose capricious cruel- 
ties his studied suavity and mildness afforded a 
contrast greatly to his advantage. Liliha was his 
only child. He loved her tenderly, and by this tie 
only was he connected with true humanity. No 
other being had sufficient influence to move him to 
any action rfot calculated from selfish policy. She 
at times made him susceptible to feeling by her 
impulsive nature, so prone to joy and kindly emo- 
tions, from her affinity with all she found fair and 
good. This was little at the best, but she kept 
that little fresh and active from her own fountain 


200 


KIANA : 


of affections, and it appeared brighter and more 
winsome from the dark shadows about her. 

She was the idol of her immediate attendants, 
and though capricious from unregulated authority, 
yet they had nothing to fear. Her father, so far 
from seeking to instil into her mind the vulgar 
faith, left her free to her own intuitions. She be- 
lieved in the beautiful and sublime nature she so 
loved to look upon, and felt there had been given 
her in it a varied and limitless source of enjoyment. 
Not that she reasoned much upon anything, but 
she was so quick to recognize all that was innocent 
and virtuous, under the circumstances of her life, 
that her heart and mind were ever developing in 
the right direction. Her religion, therefore, was not 
the result of thought, but the spontaneous action of 
an untrammelled soul, that instinctively attracting 
to itself good in preference to evil, spoke the faith 
in actions which it was powerless to frame in 
words. She knew nothing of a personal God, yet, 
had any one explained to her his existence, she 
would have listened as if it were nothing new, and 
rejoiced in a higher mental satisfaction than she 
had before realized. Quick to perceive, she had 
acquired from her father, almost without his will, 
his disbelief in the demon origin of the terrific 
phenomena of nature in their vicinity, and looked 
upon them as fearlessly as upon the placid ocean 
or the tiny sea shell. Why should she fear ? Had 
she not been born among them ? Like herself, 
they were the creation of some unseen power, who 
ruled all! So her few years had gone by kindly 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


201 


and lovingly, with health coursing in every vein, 
and happiness overflowing her heart. 

As soon as Tolta had secured Olmedo, he has- 
tened to announce to Pohaku his success. That 
grim chief was not in the best humor upon learning 
the death of so many of his warriors, by the new 
flow of the crater. “ A poor exchange this, is it 
not, Hewahewa,” said he turning to that person; 
“ so many of our fighting men for this foreign 
priest and his woman. But let us see the prize 
that has cost so much.” 

The three passed to the hut in which Olmedo 
was confined. His bandages were removed, and 
he found himself in their presence. Pohaku looked 
at him as he would have at a strange animal, and 
marvelling at his long robes and the effeminate air 
they gave him, said to Tolta, “ You Mexicans must 
have been less than women to have been con- 
quered by such a race as this. Would you have 
my warriors fight them ? I have a mind to tie you 
to him and toss you both into the crater. Kiana 
would have been a prey worth a legion of such as 
this long-robed, pale-faced she.” 

Tolta’s hand nervously sought the dagger he 
wore, but prudence restrained him, and he quietly 
replied, “ The Spanish chief has for the while 
escaped. He will soon enough give you a chance 
to feel his stroke in battle. Till then spare your 
taunts. Their priests are women in looks, but 
devils in deeds. If you would see the faces of 
their soldiers, look there,” and he tossed out of a 


202 


KIANA : 


bag before him the ghastly heads of the three 
Spaniards. 

Even Pohaku was surprised at their long grisly 
beards and fierce faces, scarred by wounds, and 
bronzed by a score or more of years of constant 
adventure and warfare. “ These may have been 
men,” said he, “ but my soldiers would have soon 
rolled their heads in the dust,” at the same time 
kicking them scornfully, not choosing to remember 
that some of his best warriors had within the past 
year fallen by their blades. “ Guards,” he added, 
“ take this carrion away, and put it up over the 
eastern gate of the fortress, — Twill be a fit target 
for our boys. As for you, puny priest, you are 
destined for Pele. Thank your gods you are to 
be so honored.” 

“ Chieftain,” replied Olmedo, “ the God I serve 
will protect me living or dying. I am indeed a 
man of peace, but fear not the sword. Death has 
no terrors, for it opens to me a heaven, such as your 
idolatry can never know. In your delusion and 
ignorance you are to be pitied — not me. You 
shall see how calmly a Christian can die. Perhaps 
it will lead you to ask what it is to be a Christian.” 

“ I will tell you what it is to be a Christian, Po- 
haku, for none know better than my countrymen,” 
broke in Tolta. “ It is to rob, to murder, to burn, 
to ravish, to lie, to torture, to destroy the sacred 
images and break down the altars of the gods; 
to demolish towns and to waste fields; to breed 
famine and pestilence. All this, for gold and con- 
quest, have the Spaniards, cursed be their mothers, 


TRADITION or HAWAII. 


203 


brought upon Mexico in the name of their god, 
and this will they bring to you, O chief ! Even if 
you welcome them to 'your bosom, as did our sove- 
reign, Montezuma, they will imprison and spurn 
you to your death, or they will broil you on hot 
coals as they did the emperor Guatimotzin, to make 
you confess riches that you have not. Yet they 
say their god is merciful and full of love. See, 
here is the lying image,” and snatching the crucifix 
from Olmedo’s neck, he handed it contemptuously 
to Pohaku, who, putting it curiously to his ear, 
said, “ It does not talk. How does it give you 
power to do all this ? Pele thunders and destroys. 
She speaks, and we listen. She is silent, and we 
fill her with gifts to buy her good will. But this 
bit of wood is dumb. Pele eats the ocean and the 
earth, — mountains and rivers she swallows. She 
is a dread goddess, and must be worshipped or wo 
perish. Here, take your god,” added he, disdain- 
fully flinging it towards Olmedo, “to-morrow wo 
will give Pele a rare meal. You and your god 
shall she feast upon.” 

“ Hold, chief ! ” cried Olmedo, excited by his 
sacrilegious act, “the mercy you refuse you may 
shortly need. This image is no God, but it repre- 
sents the Son ^of God ; his words of peace and 
love will fill my heart and rejoice my spirit, when 
your false Pele, with all her thunderings, is dumb 
in my ears. God made the volcano, and at his 
bidding it sleeps or overflow’s. Cease to bow the 
knee to Pele, and pray to Him, and you shall learn 
such truths as shall make you live on earth in 
peace, and welcome death with joy.” 


204 


KIANA : 


“Ha! white priest, do you despise Pele?” re- 
plied Pohaku fiercely, and seizing Olmedo by the 
arm, he dragged him outside the house to the verge 
of the precipice, which looked down upon the 
crater of Kileuea. 

That immense circle of dead lava, now known 
as the black ledge, which contracts the active por- 
tion of the crater to a circuit of a few miles, was 
not then in existence. The whole pit, embracing 
an area sufficient to contain the city of New York, * 
was in commotion. From where Olmedo looked, 
the height above the fiery mass was about five 
hundred feet. It had undermined the wall of the 
crater, so that it overhung the sea of lava, as the 
Table Rock does the cataract of Niagara. Imme- 
diately beneath him, therefore, lay the lurid caul- 
dron. Its heavy, sluggish waves, of deep crimson, 
surged against the banks with a muffled roar, as 
unlike the glad sound of surf, as a groan to laugh- 
ter. Occasionally a thick black crust formed over 
the surface, like a huge scab. Then this would 
break asunder, and bright red currents of liquid 
rock appear underneath ; whirlpools of boiling blood 
fusing everything they touched into their own gore- 
hued flood. Huge masses of solid stone were 
vomited high into the air, and fell hissing and sput- 
tering back again into the depths of the fiery gulf, 
to be again cast forth, or melt like wax in a ten- 
fold heated furnace. Lighter jets of lava were 
being thrown up, sometimes in rapid succession, 
and sometimes at long intervals, which filled the 
atmosphere with red hot spray and steam, and 


A TKADITION OF HAWAII. 


205 


gases, blown hither and thither, and whirled about 
like the sands of the desert before a simoom, by the 
furious blasts of wind that swept with mingled 
moans and shrieks across that lake of hell, and 
through its glowing caverns and out of its black 
pits. Overhead hung a dense cloud, gradually 
spreading as it rose, until it enveloped all the region 
of the crater. The smoke of its torment, like a 
pall, covered the cancerous earth, to screen its 
• throes from the light of the sun. 

Coming so unexpectedly upon a spectacle of 
which he had heard only vague accounts, Olmedo, 
at first sight, forgot both himself and his enemies in 
awe. It was indeed a fearful spectacle, beautiful 
even in its terror, exciting all that was appalling in 
the imagination, and fascinating the eye as by a 
spell. The solid earth was passing away in a 
flame, and would soon be as a vapor. Olmedo felt 
as if he were the sole spectator. The wreck of 
matter lay before the last man. Such was his im- 
mediate sensation, from which he was rudely roused 
by Pohaku’s hoarse voice crying, “ How like you 
this lake to swim in ? You shall bathe in it before 
to-morrow’s sun sinks behind yonder forest. My 
people shall see if your god will carry you unharm- 
ed over Pele’s billows of fire. Meantime, feast and 
be merry, for the goddess likes a full stomach,” and 
thrusting him back into the house he left him. 

Tolta lingered behind. Approaching Olmedo, he 
whispered in Spanish, “ Would you save yourself 
from this death ? ” 

“ My life is the gift of my God,” he replied* 
18 


206 


KIANA : 


« His will and not that cruel chief’s will determine 
my fate.” 

“ Have you forgotten Beatriz so soon ? How 
would she feel to see your form shrivelling and 
writhing as it plunged into that boiling lava ? 
Think of her, priest.” 

“ Wretch, you dare not tell her this, much less 
make her witness such a horror ! ” 

“ I dare not ! Know that Tolta dares anything 
for his revenge, and to glut his desires. With you • 
it lays to save yourself and her from this fate. 
Pohaku has summoned his people to a solemn 
festival, before he strikes at Kiana. He is furious 
that the three Spaniards should have escaped their 
intended sacrifice. Think you he will spare Bea- 
triz when he sees her ? She either dies on the altar 
or by his lust.” 

Olmedo for the instant was dumb with anguish 
at the threatened fate of Beatriz. But clinging to 
the slightest hope of rescuing her, as he recovered 
his voice, with hands clasped in an appealing ges- 
ture towards Tolta, he eagerly asked, “ How can I 
save her ? Oh, gladly would I ransom her life with 
mine. Tell me, good Tolta ; by the love your bore 
your mother, by your hope of heaven, tell me, Mexi- 
can, and the prayers of gratitude, and all that a 
chaste maiden and a Christian priest may do, shall 
be forever yours. She saved your life amid the 
ruin of your native city — you rescued her from 
drowning, but not for this fate. Let her not perish 
now, and thus ” — Olmedo paused for an instant, 
as his imagination pictured to him with the force 


A. TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


207 


of reality, all the horrors that encompassed her for 
whom he plead ; big drops of agony came upon his 
brow as he met the cold, fierce, lustful eye of the 
Aztec fixed unmoved upon his, while the same 
wily, implacable look, born of his deepest pas- 
sions, overspread his pitiless features which he had 
noticed once before, and now, as then, involuntarily 
shuddered to see ; but the stake at issue was the 
honor and life of his daughter in Christ, and so he 
• plead on. “ No ! you cannot — you will not suffer 
this ; the hand that has fed you, nursed you, the 
heart that has cared for you and your eternal wel- 
fare, when all others were cold ; the tongue that 
never spoke to you but in love and kindness, — 
surely you will not harm them ? Look, Tolta, Ol- 
medo the priest, the friend of the Mexican, — your 
father was a priest, — Olmedo on his knees beseech- 
es you to save the white maiden, to restore her in 
all honor to her brother ; take my life as a ransom 
for hers, if your vengeance must have life, — will 
you not, Tolta ? ” 

Olmedo became silent, and dropped his eyes to 
the ground, then raising them for a second towards 
heaven, he ejaculated in Spanish, as he met the 
relentless gaze of Tolta still fixed upon him, 
“ Mother of Christ, soften the heart of this heathen, 
— save thy lamb from the wolves that beset her. 
If there be no escape prepared, sustain and fortify 
our spirits until their hour of final deliverance has 
come.” 

As he finished his prayer, Tolta grasped his arm 
and said to him, “ Now listen to me, Olmedo. I 


208 


KIANA ; 


would save Beatriz, for ' 1 love her — start not — 
yes, the Mexican dog dares love the Castilian maid, 
loves her with all the fiery, quenchless passion of his 
race, as noble and proud as her own, and, till the 
Spaniards came, as victorious. I saved her from 
the ocean because I loved her. I have borne insult, 
oppression, slavery, the fierce words of Juan, and 
even a Christian baptism from you because of this 
love. I have been faithful to the Spaniard when 
revenge was offered me until now, because I love 
Beatriz. Would you know how much I love her? — 
as deeply as I hate her nation. She must become 
mine. It is in your power to accomplish this. You 
are her confessor, and you will she obey. Per- 
suade her to be mine, and you shall be free, Juan 
warned, and even Kiana be spared the slaughter 
now ready to fall upon him. I can easily fool this 
brute Pohaku, and lead him into the destruction he 
richly deserves. Speak, priest, will you not make 
her my wife to save her, yourself, and all you love, 
from destruction ? ” 

More in sorrow than in anger at his blindness 
and confessed villany did Olmedo reply to him. 
“ Life is dear to all of us, but our souls are dearer. 
Willingly would I do all but violate my conscience 
and her truth to save her a single pang. You know 
not a Christian woman’s heart. She mate with you ! 
the dove seek the nest of the hawk ! Never ! Bea- 
triz would die a thousand deaths first. Oh ! Tolta, is 
it for this you have played the traitor ? Were I to 
name the price of my safety, she would spurn me, 
as I do you, for the thought. Tempt me no further. 


A TKADITION OF HAWAII. 


209 


Repent of this wrong before it be too late, or you 
will learn that though you may imprison the body, 
the spirit escapes your bondage. Destroy her you 
may, but you cannot dishonor a Christian maiden. 
Her soul will defy your wiles, and we shall meet 
in Paradise. No more ! I will hear no more of 
this.” 

Tolta could as little comprehend the lofty motive 
of Olmedo in refusing to abase Beatriz’s purity, by 
merely hinting at its sacrifice, as a door of escape 
from bodily torment for either himself or her, as 
could Pohaku the spiritual strength of his faith in 
contrast with the thunder and lightnings of Pele. 
Unmoved by his reply, he sneeringly said, “ I give 
you till night to think of this. After the moon rises 
it will be too late,” and left him. 


18 * 


210 


KIANA : 


CHAPTER XXII. 


Be just and fear not. 

Let all the ends thou aim’st at be 

Thy God’s, and Truth’s; then, when thou fall’st. 

Thou fall’st a blessed Martyr.” 

Shakespeare. 

Hewahewa had been a silent witness of the two 
interviews. His curiosity was excited by what 
Olmedo had said of his religion to Pohaku, and he 
desired to know more of a faith so new to him. 
From the first, Tolta had been an object of jealousy 
and suspicion, as likely to cross his own ambition ; 
but the wily Mexican in winning the confidence of 
Pohaku, had also paid such court to him, in his 
character of high-priest, that he could find no 
positive cause of distrust. He had supported his 
schemes, therefore, because they enlarged his own 
field, relying upon his own cautious and calculating 
policy to reap the harvest of which the other two 
would sow the seeds. Without comprehending a 
word of what had passed between the Mexican 
and Spaniard, the deportment of the latter, as he 
rejected Tolta’ s double treachery, attracted his at- 
tention, and he determined to know for himself the 
actual relations between them. 

When Tolta left Olmedo, Hewahewa went out 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


211 


also, saying to his associate, “ Thanks, Mexican; 
a rare festival you have provided for us to-morrow. 
An offering like this, is a new event in Hawaii. 
Sweet will be your revenge. May Pele prosper 
you,” and touching noses, according to the national 
mode of salutation, they parted. 

No sooner, however, was Tolta fairly out of sight, 
than Hewahewa retraced his steps to Olmedo’s 
prison. The guards were his own men, because 
the prisoner was in his custody, preparatory to the 
solemn rites of the next day. He alone, besides 
Tolta, had the right of access at any hour, for the 
victim once consecrated to the gods was tabu, but 
permitted to feast, if he could, in view of his terrible 
destiny. 

Olmedo was on his knees, with crucifix uplifted, 
praying for strength for himself, and that Beatriz 
might be spared the fate to which she seemed 
doomed. “ Not our will, but thine be done, our 
Saviour and our God ; yet if this trial and death be 
necessary that we may enter Paradise, O grant 
that I, the enlisted soldier of the cross, may alone 
bear the torment. Accept my sacrifice. Queen of 
Heave p, pity and save thy daughter. Let not 
these heathens triumph in her agony, but take her 
peacefully to thy bosom. Virgin Mother,” and his 
eyes overflowed with grief as he thought of his 
utter helplessness to aid her. With his prayer, 
however, a calm gradually came to his spirit. It 
could not be called hope, but it brought peace, 
and renewed his trust in divine aid. A demeanor 
so unlike the dogged despair, or frantic fear to 


212 


KIANA : 


which he had been accustomed in his victims for 
the altar, surprised the high-priest, and imbued him 
with a respect for his prisoner, that he had never 
before felt for any one. Olmedo was so wrapped in 
his own emotions, that his entrance had been un- 
noticed. Tapping him on the shoulder as he still 
knelt, Hewahewa said to him, “ You pray then, 
brother priest. Who to ? ” 

‘‘ I am an unworthy servant of the Holy Church. 
Have you heard of the Christian’s God ? I pray to 
Him.” 

“ Nothing but what Tolta tells. He must be 
more fiendish than is our Pele in her anger, if he 
delights in such deeds as your countrymen have 
done in Mexico. But I believe in neither. There 
is no God but what we make for ourselves. Tell 
me your thought. I would know what makes you 
so calm, in sight of a death so terrible ? ” 

“ Willingly. First tell me, who created Ha- 
waii ? ” 

“ I know not. It sprang from night or chaos, so 
our bards say,” replied Hewahewa. 

“ Something from nothing. Do you believe this ? 
Where does a man go when he dies ? ” 

“ Back to night, or everlasting sleep.” 

“ Then, you think, that man and the earth came 
by chance out of nothing, and return to nothing ? ” 

“ That is my thought. We must make the most 
of life. There is no other. I believe in what I 
have, in what I feel and see, but in nothing more. 
Death finishes all. Do you not fear to go back to 
nothing ? ” 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


213 


“ If I thought as you think, I should. But the 
earth you love, and the life you covet teach differ- 
ently. Can the canoe live on the ocean without a 
pilot ? Does the taro ripen without the sun ? 
Think you that this earth drifts at random in space, 
without a hand to guide it? No I the Supreme 
Being made this world and man to dwell therein. 
He has made also a heaven for the good, and a hell 
for the evil. He governs all, and sent his Son ages 
gone by to tell us there was eternal life, and we 
should be happy or miserable as we obeyed the 
commands he left. Among other things, he told 
us white men to go abroad over the earth and tell 
to all nations the glad tidings. I am one of his 
soldiers. But we carry no arms. We fight not, 
we teach as he taught, and if we are put to death, 
we pray for those who kill our bodies, that they 
may believe as we do. Then will they see that 
death is but a portal to a more glorious life. There 
are bad men among us white as among you, who 
love evil and commit the crimes Tolta tells of. Our 
mission is as much to them as to you. We preach 
love and faith in the Great God to all, and it is be- 
cause we know that he will receive us into Paradise 
that we dread not death.” 

Much after this manner did Olmedo talk to 
Hewahewia, who listed attentively to words which 
opened to him new trains of thought. He felt a 
desire to save him from his impending fate, that he 
might hear more. But the whole population were 
assembling to witness a sacrifice such as had never 
before been offered in Hawaii, and he dared not 


214 


KIANA : 


disappoint them. Besides, Tolta and Pohaku were 
not to be easily balked. Musing for a few mo- 
ments he abruptly said to Olmedo, “I would see 
more of you. You must not die. I will provide a 
substitute ; give me your garments for him and you 
shall be secreted, while the howling mob will think 
you have been thrown to Pele.” 

“ Not so ! I would not purchase my life at the 
expense of an innocent victim. I thank you for 
your intended kindness to me, but this must not 
be.” 

“Are you mad? What is the life of a slave to 
you ! He will be but too much honored to take 
your place. Refuse me not. I am determined on 
this.” 

“ Never ! My religion forbids even evil thoughts, 
much more deeds. Free me if you will, for that I 
would be most grateful. But you know not the 
spirit of a Christian, if you think him so base as to 
purchase his safety by a crime.” 

“ Strange being, what means this ? Soon the 
sacred drums will sound, and the criers announce 
that the solemn festival has begun. Then it will be 
beyond my power to make the exchange. Yield be- 
fore it be too late. Hast thou no daughter, no wife 
to live for ? ” 

“Daughter! alas I have a daughter. Think of 
me no longer. Take her from the toils of that 
Mexican, and I will even bless you, and pray the 
Son for you in heaven to which I am going. She 
would despise me, more if possible than I should 
myself, could I accept my life on your terms. Men- 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


215 


tion not that again. Have you a daughter ? I see 
by your face you have. By the love you bear 
her, as you would not have her dishonored by a 
villain, or see her a mangled corpse, save her. 
You can : will you not ? ” and he grasped the hand 
of Hewahewa and wrung it in his anguish. 

He had struck the only chord of feeling in his 
gaoler. “Where is this woman,” he asked; “for 
your sake I will see her.” 

Olmedo then detailed their capture and subse- 
quent history up to the time he was violently 
separated from Beatriz, and finally the offer of 
Tolta to redeem them both, and his contemplated 
treason to Pohaku, provided he would assent to 
his designs upon her. Hewahewa listened eagerly 
to every word by which the thread of his rival’s pro- 
jects was unravelled to him. He now saw clearly 
the game he was pursuing, and without betraying 
his intention, simply said, “ If not too late, I will do 
as you wish. She shall be a sister to my daughter. 
Courage. Farewell.” 


216 


KIANA : 


CHAPTER XXIII. 

“ And priests^ rushed through their ranks, some counterfeiting 
The rage they did inspire, some mad indeed 
With their own lies. They said their god was waiting 
To see his enemies writh and burn and bleed. 

And that Hell had need of human souls.” 

The Kevolt of Islam. 

We leftBeatriz sleeping, watched over by Liliha, 
who with true kindness had forborne to ask any 
questions, but had confined her hospitality to 
administering to the bodily needs of her guest. As 
she believed Olmedo to be equally attended to, and 
both now in comparative safety, it is not surprising 
that her slumbers, after the excessive fatigue and ex- 
citement of the few past days, should have been long 
and deep. Liliha herself came often to her, to see 
that she was comfortable, -and to be the first to greet 
her when she woke. After it was light and her 
household had begun their daily employments, she 
sat constantly by her side, watching her with mingled 
curiosity and love, for she was attracted to her by a 
feeling she had never before experienced. Beatriz 
now stirred frequently, and her lips moved, but she 
did not open her eyes. She seemed agitated by dis- 
tressing emotions, and often spoke as if to some one 
she loved, but in a language strange to her watcher. 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


217 


At times, however, there came words of earnest 
pleading, succeeded by a resolute and defiant tone, 
as if she struggled with an enemy. 

To calm her inquietude, Liliha gently took her 
hand, pressing it for a while with soothing caresses, 
and then softly whispered in her ear, ‘‘ Have no fear, 
dear stranger, much love Liliha bears to you.” 

Beatriz slowly opened her eyes, looking at first 
with surprise upon the young girl, but as her 
memory brought back the scene of the preceding 
night and her young host, she smiled and said to 
her, “ I cannot thank you enough, kind maiden. 
You have aroused me from a painful dream. For- 
give me if my recollection was somewhat con- 
fused.” 

Liliha returned her smile, with a look full of 
gladness, saying, “ You will now be better. Your 
sleep was long and deep until the day dawned. 
Liliha is your' near companion; will you not be 
hers ? ” 

“ Most gladly,” replied Beatriz. “ You can indeed 
be to me a friend. I have sad need of one.” She 
then briefly related her history to Liliha, who list- 
ened in amazement at the narrative, which carried 
her ideas so far beyond the horizon of her own little 
world. 

“ You then are the pearl of Hawaii, of whom I 
have heard my father speak; the beautiful, pale- 
faced woman whom Kiana was to wed; Lono’s 
sister. Glad is my heart to welcome you,” and 
she jumped up and beat her little hands with joy at 
the thought that she had at last met with such a 
19 


218 


KIANA : 


companion and friend. “But,” added she, “tell me 
what fate brought you here with that dark stranger. 
He comes often to see my father. Much I fear 
him, and hate him too. His presence portends 
trouble, I am sure, for since he has known him my 
father leaves me more than ever. He goes to that 
ugly fortress, but never takes me with him. But 
he will be glad to know that I have found a sister. 
May I call you so?” and the bright-eyed, affection- 
ate girl seized both Beatriz’s hands in hers and 
looked up so winningly and hopefully, that Beatriz 
felt she must take her at once to her heart; a sing- 
ing bird ever there to nestle and cheer her with 
sweet song. 

Beatriz continued her narrative, at least all but 
what her heart held as too sacred for human confi- 
dence, and which indeed would have been unintel- 
ligible to the untutored forest-girl, whose bosom as 
yet had known only her own simple impulses, 
which to her nature were like the sweeping of the 
summer breeze over a lake, gently stirring its sur- 
face, but leaving its crystalline depths unmoved. 

She comprehended that Beatriz felt like herself 
towards Tolta, and loved Olmedo, who was a priest, 
as she did her father. Her active sympathies were 
therefore at once enlisted in her new friendship 
by a common bond of feeling. As Beatriz con- 
cluded, she said, referring to Tolta, “ He is a bird of 
evil, but no harm shall reach you with me. My 
father is high-priest, and will protect you from him. 
Let us send for Olmedo, and talk together.” 

Beatriz had been longing to see Olmedo, but 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


219 


delicacy had prevented her from expressing her 
desire. She therefore joyfully acquiesced in the pro- 
position of Liliha. Calling one of her attendants, 
the chief bade her request the presence of the white 
priest. She soon returned with the information 
that he had disappeared. 

“ And Tolta,” demanded Liliha, “where is he?” 

“ Gone also,” replied the messenger. 

“ Then he is upon some .evil errand. Hasten 
and inquire of my people whalf this means. Who 
knows about it! Send out runners in all directions 
to seek the strange priest. Off, off,” said Liliha, 
enforcing her order with an imperious gesture to 
all her train. 

Beatriz’s heart sank within her. But controlling 
her emotions, she calmly awaited farther intelli- 
gence. Meanwhile Liliha comforted her with the as- 
surance of her friendship and her father’s assistance. 

They had riot long to wait before several of her 
people returned with the tidings, that a sacred 
festival had been proclaimed for the morrow at the 
temple at Kilauea, and all the people invited to 
witness a new and solemn sacrifice to Pele. Every 
chief also had been summoned to attend with his 
warriors in readiness for war. Some important 
event was in preparation, which the heralds would 
announce before the sacrifice. But the news that 
most touched them was, that a boy in returning 
home at an early hour of the morning, had passed 
on the road to Pohaku’s fortress, a band of armed 
men carrying a prisoner, clad in a strange costume. 

“ It is Olmedo,” said Beatriz, as the truth flashed 


220 


KIANA : 


across her mind, “ they are bearing him away to be 
sacrificed. My friend, my sister, cannot we save 
him ? I will go to him and share his fate. Aid 
me as you would act for your own father.” 

Dismissing her attendants, Liliha replied, “ My 
father charged me not to follow him to the fortress 
without his express orders, and never has he permit- 
ted me to witness the offices of religion. But we 
will go there and appeal to him. I am sure he will 
grant my wish. Kind he is ever to me. But you 
must not be known by my people. In disguise we 
will go together.” So saying, she summoned four 
of her “bosom companions,” as were called the 
most attached and trusty of a chiefs retinue, and 
confided her intention to them. With their assist- 
ance the needful disguises were soon arranged, and 
the little party, taking a by-path to avoid observa- 
tion, began their journey to the fortress. 

With an object so dear in view, Beatrix felt equal 
to any emergency. Eager to serve her new sister, 
Liliha entered fully into her zeal. As they drew 
near the fortress, they met parties of women and 
children and bands of warriors, hurrying forward in 
the same direction. All were so bent on arrivino” 

O 

early at their destination, that our travellers attracted 
but the customary salutations, with now and then 
the inquiry, “ Have you seen the strange priest He- 
wahewa is to offer to Pele to-morrow ? It will be 
a novel sight.” At these ominous inquiries, Beatrix 
shuddered and drew closer to Liliha, who at times 
barely refrained from indignantly bidding them 
cease their exultation, for her father would be 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


221 


guilty of no such breach of hospitality. “ Ha|^not 
Olmedo eaten beneath his roof ; ” she would say to 
Beatriz, “ how then can he slay him ? The laws 
of Hawaii forbid. Believe them not. Take cour- 
age.” As they passed one group of decrepit women 
to whose bony hands young children clung, scarcely 
old enough to totter along, but yet able to keep 
pace with the faltering steps of the hags who led 
them, Liliha could restrain herself no longer, and in 
her usual tone of authority, bade them “ begone to 
their homes, and not leave them to glut their dim 
sight with the agonies of a horrible death. Their 
own would soon enough be upon them.” Not re- 
cognizing the y^oung chiefess, they shook their lank 
arms menacingly at her, and croaked out, “ So, so, 
my gay bird, you would look on it alone! Old 
eyes love new sights as well as young eyes. You 
go fast enough now, but your bones will crack and 
your flesh will wither like ours before many suns. 
You’ll know then what a treat ’tis to see Pele fed. 
Come, come, don’t keep us back,” and they twitched 
the little ones at their sides in impotent effort to 
make them go faster. 

Luckily Liliha was out of hearing before they 
had finished their sentence, and thus was spared 
the temptation to reply. In company with a mot- 
ley crowd, her party arrived at dusk at the western 
gate of the fortress, and entered unnoticed amid the 
throng. Numerous companies of warriors, with 
their arms and provisions, and headed by their he- 
reditary chiefs, had assembled and were encamped 
apart from each other, both within and without the 
19 * 


222 


KIANA : 


stronghold. Knots of these fierce men, intermingled 
with' women and children, were gathered around 
orators, who were exciting their passions to war 
and plunder, and to whose eloquence they replied 
by shouts and yells and thrilling chants, brandish- 
ing their weapons and deriding their foes. There 
were many fighting women among them, the most 
ferocious of Amazons, whose cries and gestures 
were the wildest of all, as they indulged in imag- 
inary triumphs, and danced and raved by torch light 
in maniac groups, or flying hither and thither with 
dishevelled hair and distorted countenances, sought 
to inspire the spectators with their own savage 
emotions. Priests were discussing their singular 
good fortune in the propitiatory offering they had 
secured for Pele in the white man, and promising 
the people her aid and that of her terrible sisters in 
the nefarious designs of Pohaku, whose heralds just 
before night-fall, had proclaimed war, and invited 
all the population to join in the feast, or more 
properly speaking the saturnalia, in anticipation of 
the solemn sacrifice of the morrow, and the subse- 
quent march towards the territories of Kiana, whom 
they hoped to surprise. The non-combatants were 
to remain within the fortress. This was more than 
seven hundred feet wide. Its walls were fifteen 
feet thick and twelve high, making it for Hawaii 
impregnable, if resolutely defended. Along its 
whole extent at short intervals, were hideous im- 
ages of stone or wood, which stood as sentinels 
over their worshippers. Now in the dusky light 
they looked like real demons, silently watching the 


A TEADITION OF HAWAII. 


223 


noise and revelry below. The maddest of the 
priests were rushing .about with smaller idols, lift- 
ing them above their heads with fearful screams 
and grimaces, pretending that they came from the 
images, which were to be borne in the ranks as 
consecrated banners. Feasting had already com- 
menced, and various parties were to be seen seated 
on mats on the ground, both inside and outside of 
the houses, banqueting on wild boar, dog, live 
fishes, and other luxuries of the region, which they 
washed down with copious draughts of the intoxi- 
cating arva, amid rude jeers, jests, shouts and up- 
roarious laughter. Slaves of both sexes, naked to 
their waist-cloths despite the chill air, gaunt and 
feeble, from famine and ill-usage, stood in the rear 
of their masters, eager to clutch the thrown aside 
morsel, while tremblingly obeying their capricious 
orders. Canine and swinish pets, barked and 
grunted, fought and rooted in unrebuked proximity 
to their owners, adding their stirring noises to the 
general chorus of discordant sounds. 

Such was the spectacle into which Beatriz was 
introduced, as following Liliha they quietly made 
their way in search of Hewahewa. Fortunately, 
the deepening shadows of night favored their dis- 
guise, and Beatriz was too intent on finding 
Olmedo, to notice what otherwise would have 
alarmed her, for there were scenes of debauchery 
going on which it is not for the pen to describe. 

As they passed the open door of a house larger 
than the rest, Liliha saw the gloomy features of 
Pohaku, intently gazing into a smothered fire, in 


224 


KIANA : 


which something was slowly consuming. Around 
him were a party of the high chiefs, who stood 
deferentially, while he reclined on a divan. On 
either hand were two priests, who were uttering a 
dismal chant with their hands extended towards 
heaven, but frequently stopping to throw a sub- 
stance, the nature of which they could not discern, 
upon the fire. If it flashed into a quick bright 
flame, all hailed it with cries of satisfaction ; but as 
it oftener seemed to half extinguish the fire, or to 
puff out thick wreaths of smoke, Pohaku’s face be- 
came fearfully moody, and he growled curses upon 
the priests, who evidently were more in awe of him 
than their deities. Tolta stood in the back-ground, 
regarding the scene with a look of mingled con- 
tempt and impatience. 

Making a sign to her companions to remain 
where they were, Liliha thinking her father might 
be within, cautiously approached where she could 
see the interior. Hewahewa was not there. But 
before she could retire, Tolta passed out so close to 
her that she could have touched him, saying to 
himself, “ Fools, do they think by drunkenness and 
frantic shouts to beat Kiana’s men, or by incanta- 
tions to waste the flesh from his bones ? Rightly 
that brute is named stone,” — referring to the mean- 
ing of the word Pohaku, — “ his head and heart are 
made of nothing else. His stupid sorcery will lose 
me my game. He says he will not budge until he 
omens are auspicious. Would he were to be cast 
to Pele with Olmedo. But I must see that priest 
and get his final answer.” Seeing the group of 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


225 


women, he roughly said to them as he passed, 
“ Away with you, hags, to your feasting ; leave 
such foolery to your betters ; you’ll have enough 
to wail for to-morrow,” little perceiving to whom 
his bitter words were spoken. 

Liliha motioned to them to follow her as she 
stole after him. He walked fast, but they dogged 
him as noiselessly as shadows. Olmedo had been 
removed into the heiau, or temple, outside of the 
fortress, upon a cliff overhanging the lake of fire. 
Inside were a few houses devoted to the priests and 
the idols. As they passed under the eastern gate 
of the fortress, Liliha saw the three heads of the 
Spaniards set upon poles. In the dim light their 
features could not be distinguished. Supposing 
them to be some of the common victims of the 
priests, she put her finger upon her lips for Beatriz 
to keep silent, fearing the effect upon her of so sud- 
den and ghastly a sight. Beatriz knew too well to 
whom they belonged, but she restrained her emo- 
tions, and passed them quickly, though not without 
an inward prayer for the repose of their souls. 

They arrived at the entrance of the heiau as 
Tolta disappeared within. It had been made tabu 
to females, and was now deserted by all but the 
guards appointed by Hewahewa to watch over 
Olmedo. Death, under the most appalling forms, 
would be the penalty if they were detected within 
the sacred precincts. As little as Liliha knew of 
the rites of the popular religion, she was quite 
aware of the terrible punishment awarded to any 
breach of priestly tabus, though without any super- 


226 


KTAN^A : 


stitious dread of infringing them. It was natural, 
therefore, for her to pause before she crossed the 
fatal barrier. Beatriz, either not perceiving or not 
understanding her hesitation, entered at once. Li- 
liha stopped no longer, but impulsively followed, 
as did her faithful women, who, if it had been her 
will, would have leaped after her into the crater, so 
attached were they to their young mistress. 

The heiau was reeking with foul odors, that arose 
from the putrefying masses of animal offerings 
upon the numerous altars. Some human sacrifices 
had been recently made. These corpses, in which 
decay had already begun, were stretched out before 
images so foul in features and postures, as to be 
unlike anything earthly. To a savage they might 
well appear to be fiends, but to an educated mind 
they were absurd and disgusting, exciting horror 
only from the blind devotion paid them. They saw 
also the secret access to the principal idols, by 
means of which the priests, like those of Isis at 
Pompeii, were able to utter oracles through their 
mouths, as if the god spoke, and to perform the 
usual ritual jugglery which, among all ignorant 
races, designing priestcraft passes off as miracles. 

Although faint and soul-sick at these evidences 
of a faith so false, so pitiless to the doomed, and so 
suggestive of what might be her own fate, and 
unless they succeeded in rescuing Olmedo, would 
be his, Beatriz did not for a second falter. For a 
little while they were bewildered in the intricacies 
in the interior of the heiau, as they had lost sight 
of Tolta, and knew not in what direction to seek 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII, 


227 


for the prison of Olmedo. As they cautiously 
groped their way from one house to another, listen- 
ing to catch signs of life, they heard voices from 
one near by. Being of thatch, there was no diffi- 
culty in observing the interior through a hole made 
in the straw. They saw Olmedo lying on mats, 
with several guards about him, whom Liliha recog- 
nized to be her own men. Indeed they were hus- 
bands of the women with her. Tolta had just 
gone in, and was speaking to Olmedo in Spanish. 



“ I have come, monk,” said he, “ according to 
promise, to hear your final answer. For the last 
time I ask, will you assist me to wed Beatriz, 
and live? Methinks the sights and odors about 
you must have quickened your reflections. Be- 
member, yes is still in time, but shortly no power 
can save you from your doom.” 


228 


KIANA : 


“ Leave me, Mexican,” replied Olmedo, “ my few 
remaining hours in peace. My answer has been 
already given. I will not join in your treachery to 
save myself. Beatriz may die, but she never will 
be dishonored.” 

“ Even now her life and honor depend upon your 
answer. Make her my wife, and she shall be queen 
of Hawaii. Hear me ! No other faith but yours 
shall exist in Hawaii. This I swear, and you shall 
be its chief minister. My plans are ripe. I have 
but to lift my finger and they turn either way, as 
you decide,” urged Tolta, in his eagerness, forget- 
ting the doubts that but shortly before clouded his 
mind and angered him. 

“ Your offers and your threats are alike useless, 
Tolta. I have not the power, if I had the will, to 
make Beatriz love you. I may perish, and she too, 
but we both will die with souls unsullied by false- 
hood,” answered Olmedo. “ Even now He to 
whom I pray, upholds me and gives me peace. 
Go, and tempt me no further.” And he turned his 
face from him in sadness, firmly refusing to listen 
to him any more. 

“ Then perish, you and yours ; all in whom flows 
Spanish blood. I doom you all.” Saying this, 
Tolta left the house, and returned towards the 
fortress, at each step venting his anger in execra- 
tions upon the obstinacy, as he called it, of the 
monk. 


A TEADITION OF HAWAII. 


229 


CHAPTER XXIV. 


** There is no danger to a man that knows 
What life and death is.” 

Chapman. 

It may be readily imagined that Beatriz listened 
eagerly to a conversation which gave her the clue 
. to all the tortuous actions of Tolta in regard to 
herself and Olmedo. He had no sooner gone than 
she entered, throwing back the covering to her face, 
which, amid the general excitement, had enabled 
her to pass unobserved among her companions, 
who, immediately coming after, imitated her exam- 
ple. Notwithstanding the suddenness of her ap- 
pearance, and the obscure light, Olmedo knew her 
at once, and greeted her with an exclamation of 
joyful surprise. The guards, challenging the in- 
truders, were about to take them into custody, but 
perceiving their young chiefess, and two of them 
recognizing their wives, they were at a loss what 
to do ; whether to give an alarm, which would be 
their death-warrant, or by acquiescing in the sacri- 
lege, run the risk of being themselves involved in 
their crime. Their attachment to Liliha proved 
stronger than their fears, as she partly appealed to 
their personal fealty, and partly commanded their 
20 


330 


KIANA : 


services, seconded by her women, who, having now 
irrevocably committed themselves, had no other 
resource than to bribe or cajole them to silence. 
Still they were incurring, as they well knew, a fear- 
ful hazard, and they heartily wished themselves 
out of the net into which they had been led by 
their inexperienced mistress. She herself did not 
reflect how the adventure might terminate, now 
that she had missed her father, but was so absorbed 
in her desire to save Beatriz, that she thought of 
nothing else. Indeed she entered as impulsively 
into every act that had that in view, as she would 
have into any scheme of pleasure. It was the first 
time she had ever taken any serious responsibility 
upon herself, unknown to or unadvised by her father. 
Up to this moment she had fully expected to meet 
him, not doubting but that, as usual, he would 
accede to her wishes. Could she have read in his 
calm exterior the closely weighed policy which 
decided every question solely in reference to his 
ambition, and made him patient or impetuous, 
kind or cruel, priest or infidel, selfish or generous, 
only as interest swayed, she would have hesitated 
to approach him on such an errand. When he 
proposed to Olmedo to save him by substituting 
another victim, he was sincere. Not that he de- 
sired to spare him the pangs of the sacrifice, but 
that he might reserve him to gratify his inquisitive 
mind, after which he would have consigned him, 
with equal indifference, to death, or sent him back 
to Kiana, as his policy prompted. The refusal of 
Olmedo had perplexed him. It was an exhibition 


A TUADTTION^ OF HAAYAII. 


231 


of character not within his calculation. He would 
not risk his popularity with the expectant multi- 
tude, by refusing to sacrifice Olmedo, as had been 
solemnly proclaimed ; but, true to his promise to 
aid Beatriz, and hoping from her to obtain further 
disclosures of the acts of Tolta, he had set off soon 
after for his own residence. By taking the main 
road he missed Liliha, who arrived at the fortress 
at the same time that he reached his own house. 
Thus it was that the maiden was left solely to her 
own resources, as she was told by the guards her 
father had returned to his home, and would not be 
back before early morning. 

When she heard this her heart failed her, and 
she wrung her hands, exclaiming, “ What can be 
done. By morning it will be too late. I will go 
to Pohaku. He will not refuse the daughter of 
Hewahewa her petition.” 

“ Nay, nay, our chiefess, you would bring ruin to 
us all, and to your father also. Think not of this. 
He is as merciless as death. Like a maddened 
boar, he will rend us all,” both women and guards 
exclaimed in one breath, as each began to discuss 
how to escape from their present perilous position. 

While this was going on, Beatriz had explained 
to Olmedo all that had occurred since they parted, 
and he had told her his history. His first idea in 
seeing her was that she had been brought to share 
his fate, but finding that she was comparatively free 
and with friends, hope began to revive in each for 
the other. Overhearing the discussion between 
the women and the guards, Olmedo said, “ These 


232 


KIANA : 


friendly natives must not be put to death for me. 
We must either all depart, or you must go as you 
came, and leave me to my destiny. Some other 
mode of escape may offer, which shall not risk so 
many lives for one.” 

“ I will never again leave you, Olmedo. If you 
remain, 1 remain ; if you go, I go. Whatever your 
fate may be, I am here to share it,” said Beatriz. 

“ Say not so, my daughter, my Beatriz. Go with 
those who brought you here. They can guard you 
safely back to Juan. If you remain with me, they 
are lost. Surely you would not cost them their 
lives. Go while there is yet time. God will guard 
you. As for me, I am a soldier of the cross, and it 
is meet that I should offer up my life rather than 
violate its holy principles. There,” said Olmedo, 
tenderly taking her hand and putting it into that of 
Liliha, “ depart with her. She will rescue you 
and restore you to your brother.” 

Withdrawing her hand from Liliha’s, Beatriz 
took Olmedo’s, and fixing her expressive eyes on 
his, firmly and slowly said, “ My resolution is 
formed. Did you ever know me to swerve from 
my decision ? Go, I pray you,” said she, turning to 
Liliha. “ May the Holy Virgin reward you for your 
kindness, dear sister. Embrace me. Your father, 
should he come to know this, would not be cruel to 
his daughter for her love to the white maiden.” 

But Liliha clung convulsively to her and refused 
to part. “ I cannot give you up,” said she. “ I am 
your sister. If you stay, I will stay. You shall 
not die so cruel a death,” and she sobbed like an 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


233 


infant, while her women, terrified at her words, 
urged her to delay no longer. The guards added 
their entreaties, for at any moment some of the 
priests might return, and then all would be lost. 

Olmedo, seeing the unfortunate turn Beatriz’s 
endeavor to save him was taking, here interposed, 
as a new idea suggested itself, saying, “ Calm 
yourselves and listen to me. If these good men,” 
speaking of his guards, “ will consent, we can be 
all saved.” 

“ How ! What do you propose ? I will answer 
, for my people,” eagerly exclaimed Liliha. 

“ Then let us all fly at once, taking the shortest 
and safest route to Kiana’s territory. Some of you 
must know the country well. He will reward you 
all to the extent of your desires, and protect you 
from the vengeance of your chief.” 

“And leave my father! What will he think of 
me ? I must not forsake him,” said Liliha, with a 
filial firmness that threatened to extinguish the last 
hope of rescue for Beatriz. 

“ It will be but for a short time, noble maiden,” 
urged Olmedo. “ He will pardon you for an act of 
mercy — for saving the life of your friend and sister. 
You have gone so far that there is safety in no 
other course. Finish your merciful work, my 
daughter, and the blessings of the God of the 
Christian will ever attend you, and his holy saints 
have you always in their keeping. The Great God 
wills it. Your heart is too tender to leave her to 
suffer so cruelly from the malice of a sti’anger to 
your race and ours. Your women, too ; think of 
20 * 


234 


KIANA : 


them ; their visit here cannot long be concealed. 
As soon as it is known, they will be inhumanly 
tortured, and sacrificed to demons. Would you 
have the blood of all these upon your head ? No. 
Your father will not blame you.” 

“ The stranger priest speaks well,” interposed 
Umi, the captain of the guards, glad of an opportu- 
nity to desert the service of Pohaku for that of 
Kiana, and seeing in this affair an occasion to re- 
commend himself to that chieftain. “ By sunrise we 
can reach the territories of Kiana if we start now. 
I know a city of refuge near the frontier, where we 
can be in safety until he comes to our rescue. Let 
us go at once.” 

“ For my sake, for the love you bear your father, 
save mine,” pleaded Beatriz, embracing her. 

The women and guards added their entreaties, 
so that Liliha hesitated no longer. “ Be it so,” 
said she, “ I yield for your sakes, but my heart mis- 
gives me for deserting my father.” But there was 
no time for further indecision, so they bore her half- 
reluctantly forward, leaving the heiau by the gate 
farthest from the fortress, fortunately meeting no 
one. It wanted an hour and a half of midnight. 
The moon rose as they reached a path that skirted 
the crater on its northern side. By its light they 
made tolerably quick progress over the rough coun- 
try, in the direction of the eastern shore of Hawaii. 

They had been gone about three hours, when 
Tolta walked once more towards the heiau, desir- 
ous of seeing his captive again before he was wholly 
given up to Hewahewa, for the terrible rites of the 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


235 


dawning festival. Surprised and angry at finding 
the temple wholly deserted, his first thought was, 
that the guards and priests, whose duty required 
them to have been there at that hour, had left their 
captive and gone to indulge in the orgies at the fort. 
He searched everywhere without finding a trace of 
Olmedo, and was on the point of going back to 
seek Hewahewa, and demand why the prisoner had 
been removed, when he saw something bright lying 
on the ground, close by the gate farthest from 
Pohaku’s quarters. Picking it up he recognized 
the well-known rosary of Beatriz. Immediately 
the misgiving crossed his mind that by some means 
he was unable to account for, she had been able to 
release Olmedo, and they had fled. Alone and un- 
assisted, such a deed was impossible. She must, 
therefore, have secured aid from some one, able 
either to overawe or bribe those who had the cus- 
tody of Olmedo. His suspicion fell at once upon 
Hewahewa. “ He seeks to ingratiate himself with 
Kiana,” thought he, “ by revealing the plot and re- 
storing the prisoners. But why ? What motive can 
there be for such a step, when our joint plans were 
so nigh success ? ” Confiding his discovery to no 
one, he went back to the fortress, hoping that he 
might find Hewahewa, and learn from him that he 
was wrong in his conjecture. He was as unsuc- 
cessful in getting tidings of him as of Olmedo. 
Doubt now ripened into certainty, and he felt sure 
that Hewahewa had not only released the prisoners, 
but accompanied them in their flight. “ The traitor, 
does he think to foil me thus ? I will have his head 


286 


KIANA : 


and one rival the less. I never liked his ominous 
silence, — his thought is as secret as the grave. 
But they cannot have gone far. I must pursue 
and capture them before this gets to the ears of 
Pohaku. Caught in the act, he will then be sure 
not to spare even his favorite priest. Beatriz must 
still be kept from his sight. The war once begun, 
he will hence have enough to glut his passions 
without thinking of the white woman. It will go 
hard with me if some lucky blow may not put an 
end to him. Then, Tolta, you are supreme.” 

So musing, pleased at the opportunity that offered 
for catching Hewahewa in the same net which he 
had been spreading, and not doubting but that in a 
few hours he should return successful from the pur- 
suit, he apprised his most trusty partisans that he 
had need of their services, and without letting them 
know his object until fairly upon the road, he made 
all possible haste to come up with the fugitives. 
Trained to forest warfare, his men once upon the 
route found no difficulty in tracking, even by the 
uncertain light of the moon, the party in advance, 
whose progress, encumbered as it was with women, 
was necessarily much slower than their own. 

While Tolta was pursuing Olmedo, Hewahewa, 
surprised at not finding his daughter and Beatriz at 
his own house, was on his return to the fortress to 
learn further tidings of them. His people knew 
only that they were missing, and that a party of 
women had left quite early in the day in that direc- 
tion. They supposed that their mistress, curious to 
witness the spectacle, had secretly gone for that 


A TKADITION OF HAWAII. 


237 


purpose. The high-priest arrived at the stronghold 
in about an hour after Tolta had left, presuming he 
should have no difficulty in detecting Liliha through 
any disguise. He anxiously sought for her among 
the different groups that were prolonging their 
carousings into the morning, and searched every 
house, but equally in vain. At last he went to the 
temple, though believing it impossible that she 
could have braved the terrors of the tabu, either 
from curiosity or to gratify the white woman. He 
was more astonished than even Tolta at its deser- 
tion, and could scarcely credit his sight. The heiau 
was a complete solitude. Its foul offerings pollu- 
ted the night air, and sent up their reeking incense 
to impish idols, unwatched by human eyes. Ex- 
cited as his feelings were for the safety of the only 
being he loved, never had the gloomy precincts of 
the sacred enclosure and its disgusting rites ap- 
peared to him as they did now. He was repelled 
and disgusted, and as he recalled the words and 
resolute self-denial of Olmedo, he felt disposed to 
proclaim the whole a delusion. But the thought 
was only momentary. As he discovered the ab- 
sence of Olmedo, he remembered what the white 
priest had told him of the proffered treachery of 
Tolta, and he suspected that Olmedo might have 
relented at the last moment and consented to his 
plans. Liliha no doubt had been seduced to con- 
duct Beatriz to the fortress in disguise, and the 
whole party had fled with the guards. Instead, 
therefore, of surprising Kiana, that chieftain, led by 
Tolta, would shortly be down upon them with all 


238 


KIANA : 


his force. Enraged at the abduction of his 
daughter, which he attributed to the Mexican, and 
hoping to defeat his intentions, he hurried to 
Pohaku, and related the circumstances and his 
conclusions. 

That chief was still engaged with the sorcerers, 
and as the auguries had not improved, his temper 
was in its most savage mood. He heard, however, 
without interrupting, the story through. 

Starting up, he roared rather than spoke, “ The 
lying hound, the whelp of a wild dog — no marvel 
that the sacred signs failed before his false eyes. 
Arm ye, all, and pursue the traitor. My richest 
valley shall be the prize of his capturer — off men 
to the hunt, but leave him to be dealt with by me. 
He who lags behind shall feel my spear.” 

Clutching his weapons he rushed out, followed 
by the fiercest and most resolute of his retainers, 
who, eager to win the reward, tumultuously pushed 
forward ; but Pohaku, maddened by his abortive 
witchcraft, and the deceit of his tempter, soon out- 
stripped them all, and intent upon revenge, went on 
at a pace to which few of his men were equal. 

Hewahewa perceived that Tolta had not gone 
alone, as many able fighting men were missing. 
He concluded, therefore, that he had partisans, and 
would make fight, should he be overtaken before 
joining Kiana. The fury of Pohaku might defeat 
its object, unless sustained by his regular force. 
So calling together as many companies of the war- 
riors under their chiefs, as the debauch had left fit 
for immediate service, he led them in military array 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


239 


after Pohaku. Thus it happened that within a few 
hours, these different jDarties, actuated by such con- 
flicting emotions, in wild chase of or from each 
other, were on the road to Kiana’s territories. 


240 


KIANA : 


CHAPTER XXV. 

“ When Anger rushes unrestrained to action, 

Like a hot steed, it stumbles in its way. 

The Man of Thought strikes deepest and strikes safely.” 

Savage. 

The reason why Tolta missed entrapping Juan 
at the same time with Beatriz, was this. Early on 
that very morning he had set out with Kiana to hunt 
wild boars in a forest in the district, now known as 
Puna, but which at that date was about equally 
divided between the territories of Kiana and Pohaku. 
It would be impossible for the traveller of the present 
day to recognize the localities of the events of this 
chapter, on account of the repeated changes in the 
features of the country, occasioned by the successive 
eruptions of Kilauea since that period. Even the 
coast line has been greatly extended and altered. 
When the Spaniards first arrived at Hawaii, the vol- 
cano had for a long period been qdiet in this direction. 
Consequently, the country had become overgrown 
with vegetation, which mantling the abrupt moun- 
tain spurs, and numerous lava raised hills, and wide 
extended plains gave it a highly picturesque appear- 
ance. Cultivation was spread over its surface but 
very slightly. In general, it was a fertile wilderness, 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


241 


sparsely peopled, but prolific with the game of the 
country. On this account it was much frequented 
by the sporting warriors of both the chieftains, 
whose followers, in pursuing the chase, not unseldom 
met in deadly conflict. There was, therefore, a 
double risk to the adventurer in exploring its wilds. 
In escaping the tusks of an infuriated animal, he 
might fall upon the spear of an ambushed foe. 

The very dangers of this territory were the origin 
of its most redeeming feature. Abounding in wild 
forests, it naturally became a refuge to the escaped 
slave, or oppressed tenant, and even the fugitive 
from justice, who without the intervention of an 
institution, which I will now describe, would, from 
their common- perils, have banded together, and 
made themselves formidable as robbers or assas- 
sins. 

I refer to the Pahonua, or to adopt the phrase- 
ology of the Israelities, in a kindred institution, the 
‘ city of refuge.’ The analogy between the two is 
very striking. With both, it was a necessity as a 
check upon the prevalent laws of retaliation, the bar- 
barous character of their warfare, and their system 
of justice, so liable to perversion from the caprices 
or tyranny of their rulers. It affords also consoling 
evidence of the disposition of mankind, even in the 
least improved condition, to correct evil. It is true, 
that like the sanctuaries of the Roman Catholic 
Church, they were liable to abuse, and were avail- 
able to the criminal, as well as the innocent, but in 
a rude society, they afforded a wholesome check 
upon ^wenge, whether private, or under judicial 

i 


242 


KIANA : 


forms, and served in a considerable degree to miti- 
gate the otherwise unendurable ferocity of war. 

A river, having its source in Mauna Kea, flowed 
through this region. It was a rapid, impetuous 
stream, much broken by rocks and whirlpools, and 
fed by numerous cascades and torrents from the 
neighboring hills. As it rained a great deal in this 
vicinity, it was generally swollen. Near the sea 
the river forced its way between precipitous banks, 
with much roaring and many abrupt leaps, at times 
quieted by the depth of its waters, as it reached 
some rocky dell, and at others spreading out into a 
quick, broad current, until it finally expanded itself 
into the sea, amid the thundering of breakers, over 
a treacherous bottom of moving sands. Only in 
the calmest weather could canoes venture to cross 
its bar. There were a few spots where sufficient 
land had been gained from the river, higher up the 
valley by dykings, so as to repay careful cultivation 
with rich crops. Here the banana and taro grew 
most luxuriantly, ripened into a luscious flavor by 
the sun’s rays, caught and retained between the 
steep, verdure-clad banks. Dams were partly 
thrown across the river in several places near its 
mouth, diverting portions of it into artificial ponds, 
well stocked with fish, particularly the delicious 
mullet, which being reared in brackish water, ac- 
quired a flavor and fatness unknown to the species 
bred elsewhere. 

Besides these signs, there were many others of 
peace and abundance in the immediate vicinity. 
They were due to the presence of a ^acious 


A TRADITION OP HAWAII. 


243 


Pahonua built of stone, situated upon the river’s 
left bank, which there formed an easy precipice, 
affording a pleasing contrast to the lofty and jetting 
crag opposite. The juncture of the fresh water 
with the salt tide of the ocean, took place almost 
under the walls of the city of refuge, occasioning 
eddies, admitting of a ford, though at no time safe, 
because of quicksands. 

The tutelar deity of this Pahonua was Keave, 
now worshipped, or more properly speaking, saint- 
ed; for the formula of the Roman Catholic Church 
is in this respect as applicable to the paganism of 
Hawaii, as to its own more enlightened ritual. 
Keave was simply the benevolent founder of this 
particular institution, the building of which was, 
considering its purpose, solidity and extent, as cred- 
itable to his sanctity and enterprise, as have been 
any of the numerous monasteries of the papal 
church, to their canonized founders. Canonization 
is indeed but another form of heathen deification. 
The creation of this Pahonua, the natives being 
destitute of machinery for raising large masses of 
stone, was in truth a prodigious feat. In its walls 
were blocks weighing upwards of two tons, elevated 
six feet or more above the ground. Around it were 
the sacred images, usually placed upon such struc- 
tures. Within, there were several pyramidal tem- 
ples, besides a sufficient number of houses for the 
people likely to take refuge therein. The limits of 
the sanctuary extended to a certain distance outside 
the walls, maitked by white flags, while its charge 
devolved upon a class of priests, — monks they 


244 


KIANA : 


might aptly be called, if we set aside the vow of 
chastity — who with their servants were permitted 
to slay any one that transgressed their privileges. 
Like themselves, their property was sacred, which 
accounts for the oasis they had created amid the 
otherwise forbidding scenery and its pertinent perils. 
Whoever once got safely within their precincts, 
became inviolable. This personal security extended 
to a certain time after the refugee had returned to 
his home, as the protecting spirit was supposed to 
still abide with him, though guilty of the foulest 
crimes, or even of violating the most solemn tabus. 
Before a figlit, the women and children of both 
the belligerents, assembled in the Pahonua for 
security. After the battle was won, the vanquished 
also fled to it to secure that mercy which the con- 
queror rarely granted. All made offerings to the 
deified founder, as does the Roman Catholic to his 
patron saint, in gratitude for favors vouchsafed. 

Olmedo and his party arrived soon after sunrise, 
without interruption, at the base of a sharp moun- 
tain ridge, which intervened between the river and 
the more level ground over which they had passed. 
It was not lofty, but, owing to its dense vegetation, 
extremely difficult to scale, except at one point 
where the natives had, by frequent traversing, worn 
a rude passage. Path it could not be called, for 
the jungle was so thick, and the branches of the 
trees so interlocked, that it offered much of the 
way a series of climbing and leaps, more suited 
to the habits of a monkey than a human being. 
There were other points of access to the river, but 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


245 


Umi had selected this as much the shortest, though 
it involved greater fatigue. For a considerable 
distance the party was obliged to go in Indian 
file up a rapid ascent, which formed the backbone 
of the spur, and was so narrow, that to unprac- 
tised feet it was safer to sit upon it, as on a saddle, 
and to hitch themselves along by the help afforded 
by the coarse grasses and ferns. On either side 
was a steep precipice, covered with a slippery coat- 
ing of rank verdure. Before arriving at the sum- 
mit the path became so obstructed with trees of a 
large growth, imbedded in a tangled network of 
shrubs and vines, that the utmost caution was 
required to prevent the weaker members of the 
party from becoming inextricably involved therein. 
Often they were obliged to find a foothold on 
branches elevated twenty feet and even more, from 
the soil, and clinging to the limbs above them, 
slowly work their way through the vegetable bar- 
rier. The sun’s rays never penetrated the leafy 
canopy overhead, though to the almost constant rains 
they were a slight obstacle. These had caused a 
luxuriant growth of mosses which encircled every 
limb, making them appear double their real size, 
and frequently hiding their decay. In grasping the 
seemingly stout branch it would prove to be a 
flexible twig or a rotten stick, and giving way, pre- 
cipitate the climber into beds of oozy vegetation, 
which, sponge-like, not only showered their chilling 
contents upon the wayfarers at every step, but, 
from their slimy coating, rendered both foothold 
and grasp very uncertain. Nothing short of the 
21 * 


246 


KIANA : 


previous rough experiences of Beatriz, in the wild 
campaigns of Mexico, could have prepared her for 
an effort like the one she was now making. Her 
companions were indefatigable in their exertions to 
aid her. After two hours of excessive labor they 
had the satisfaction to stand upon the summit, and 
look down upon the river which separated them 
from the territories of Kiana. 

“ Look,” said Umi, “ our toils are almost at an 
end. There is the Pahonua, and the priests will 
give us food and rest while we send for Kiana.” 

‘‘ But what comes there ? ” exclaimed Olmedo, 
pointing to some objects moving along the narrow 
ridge they had just traversed, and which were 
hardly perceptible from their point of view. 

All looked anxiously to the spot indicated, and 
were not long in perceiving Tolta, followed by 
several score of warriors, rapidly advancing towards 
them. At the same instant the Mexican caught 
sight of them, and they saw him pointing their 
party out to his followers, and urging them forward 
with impatient gestures. A wild shout of triumph 
broke from his men at the discovery, and they 
dashed forward in expectation of speedily seizing 
the fugitives. The difficulties of the ascent, how- 
ever, so impeded their progress, as to give ample 
time to Umi to put into execution his plan of 
escape. Tolta had taken this difficult pass to the 
river, thinking to arrive on its banks in advance of 
those he pursued, and intercept them as they came 
by the longer but more easy route. He was there- 
fore taken by surprise on discovering them ahead 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


247 


of him. His hope now lay solely in the greater 
speed of his men. With promises and threats he 
excited them to redoubled exertions, himself leading 
the way. 

Fortunately for Beatriz and Olmedo, the descent 
towards the river was comparatively facile. Send- 
ing two of his men forward to aid the women, 
Umi with the others took post just at the crest of 
the mountain, where the path was so narrow that 
they could easily hold it against great odds. With 
their spears poised they awaited the onset of Tol- 
ta’s men. 

While these incidents were in progress, Kiana 
and Juan, accompanied by a mixed train of not 
above one hundred men, warriors and servants 
included, were occupied in the chase. They were 
unaware of the abduction of the Spaniards and 
the subsequent events, having had no communica- 
tion with their homes for several days. Indeed, al- 
though many of their people had missed their guests 
of late, as they were accustomed to their retire- 
ment at not unfrequent intervals, few besides their 
immediate attendants had manifested either curi- 
osity or anxiety at their absence. But when three 
days had gone by without news of them, their 
retainers prepared to notify Kiana of the fact. 
Some had gone in pursuit of him on the very 
morning of the escape. But the hunters at early 
day-light had crossed the river at some distance 
above the Pahonua, and had been beating the 
forest at the foot of the mountain in pursuit of 
their game, with, however, but indifferent success. 


248 


KIANA : 


Wearied with their exertions, they were reposing 
in the shade of a grove about half way between 
its base and the river, when their attention was 
attracted by shouts proceeding apparently from the 
mountain. Soon several women were seen issuing 
from the forest, and running at full speed towards 
the river, followed by armed men, a few of whom, 
every now and then, faced about and stood on the 
defensive against others who were pursuing them. 
By this means the women made some progress, but 
evidently their strength was failing, and they must 
quickly be captured, especially as the foremost of 
their pursuers had overthrown his antagonist, and 
was gaining rapidly upon them. 

It seems that Umi and his men had been unable 
to retard the progress of Tolta for a much shorter 
time than he anticipated. The followers of the 
Mexican had rushed fiercely upon them, and al- 
though beaten back, returned again and again to 
the charge, throwing their spears, and yelling fright- 
fully to intimidate their foes. But Umi was too 
well practised in native warfare to be driven from 
his post by menaces, while he was sufficiently pro- 
tected as to avoid much risk from the missiles of 
his assailants. Chafing at this delay, Tolta was 
himself preparing to close with Umi, when his 
quick eye caught sight of a vine overhanging 
the rock which effectually screened his enemy. 
With the spring of a wild cat he caught at it, and 
almost as quick as the thought had been formed, 
he had scrambled to the summit, whence he could 
look down upon Umi. Another leap would have 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


249 


brought him into his rear. Umi seeing this re- 
treated, but, as he turned, dealt a quick blow to a 
careless assailant, which stretched him lifeless right 
in the way of his companions, who stumbled over 
him as they pursued him down the mountain. His 
men, taking somewhat different directions, followed, 
occasionally stopping to arrest the progress of their 
pursuers, that the women might have a chance to 
reach the river. 

Kiana, surprised at this scene, called his men to 
stand by their arms, saying to Juan, “We must be 
on our guard. Pohaku, I suspect, is about to pay 
us the compliment of a visit. If so we shall find 
him fiercer game than we have yet seen this morn- 
ing.” 

Juan was too intently gazing upon the flying 
group to heed the rernark. Suddenly he exclaimed, 
“ That headmost warrior is Tolta. There is no mis- 
taking his tiger spring. But what is the Mexican 
doing here ? Jesus Maria I That robe belongs to 
no Hawaiian. By the holy saints it is our worthy 
priest. He must have strangely changed his nature 
to be marauding with that wily Aztec. But, no ! 
the villain ! he throws his javelin at him. There is 
foul work going on here. At them, Kiana, or they 
will slay the monk.” So saying, he rushed towards 
the assailant, calling upon Olmedo to turn towards 
him.- Kiana and his men added their shouts to his, 
and ran quickly after him. 

Their apparition seemed to paralyze both the 
pursuer and the pursued. With the latter, however, 
the hesitation was but brief. Recognizing her 


250 


KINAA. : 


brother, Beatriz gave a cry of joyful surprise, and 
hastily bidding Liliha follow her, turned towards 
him. Juan knew her voice, though he could 
scarcely credit his senses on finding his sister in 
such a position. Both he and Kiana were imme- 
diately at her side. Overcome by her exertions, she 
fainted as she fell into Juan’s arms. Olmedo and 
the rest of the party were soon surrounded by the 
friendly warriors, eagerly inquiring the cause of 
their appearance and flight. Their story was told in 
a few words. A cry of vengeance upon the Mexi- 
can rose from every throat as his men called upon 
Kiana to lead them against the traitor. 

Meantime Beatriz slowly came to. Both Juan 
and Kiana, in their anxiety for her, thought of noth- 
ing else, until she was able to confirm by her own 
lips the narrative of her faithful friends. Her weak- 
ness made her tale short, but the little she spoke, 
stopping at each broken sentence to gain strength, 
told much to her listeners. Olmedo was almost 
as feeble as she. Juan gave a look of grateful sur- 
prise at Liliha, as his sister, embracing her, presented 
her as her rescuer. His thanks were hearty and 
brief, but all other feeling was speedily lost in his 
desire to revenge the treachery towards Beatriz. 
Without stopping to count his foes, he sprang to- 
wards them, calling upon Tolta to prove himself a 
man by facing one. 

Kiana was prompt to sustain him, but not before 
he had charged a portion of his retinue to escort 
the rescued party across the river, and place them 
in safety in the Pahonua, while he with the remain- 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


251 


der would cover their passage. Less fiery than 
Juan, his first impulse was to see to their safety, then 
to look to their own, for he felt certain Tolta would 
not have undertaken an enterprise of so much dan- 
ger, without being sustained by the whole power of 
Pohaku. That chief, therefore, he believed, would 
soon appear upon the field. As it was, Tolta had 
the superiority in numbers, and it would not be 
prudent to exhaust their strength before they knew 
what fresh dangers might be in store. 

The Mexican, calling his men about him, deter- 
mined to act solely on the defensive. It might 
have fared ill with Juan, had Tolta with his whole 
force made a rush upon him as he came towards 
them. Several of the most eager of his men did 
indeed sally from their ranks, to make a combined 
assault upon the white man. Their commander 
recalled them, but not before the foremost having 
struck at Juan with his mace a blow which he 
easily parried, was run through by his sword before 
he could recover his guard. This experience of 
the fatal skill and power of the weapon of the 
Spaniard made them more cautious, and they kept 
their ranks retreating slowly towards the rocky 
promontory directly facing the Pohonua. It was 
not far from this point that the road usually trav- 
ersed from Kilauea, and leading to the somewhat 
dangerous ford before spoken of, joined the river. 
Tolta knew too much of Juan’s prowess to venture 
himself in combat with him, especially with inferior 
weapons. He noticed the fewness of Kiana’s men, 
and hoped before long Pohaku might join him, 


252 


KIANA : 


when their combined force would easily slay or 
capture their opponents. 

Kiana and his men had now come up, and with- 
out making a direct assault were gradually pressing 
Tolta’s party back to the highest part of the preci- 
pice, which here overlooked the deepest waters of 
the river, though a little way below they became 
shallower as they approached the ford. Olmedo 
and his companions were already preparing to 
cross, having availed themselves of some canoes 
belonging to the priests of the Pahonua, which 
Kiana had borrowed early in the day for his own 
passage. The rising ground on which they now 
found themselves, gave Tolta’s men a decided ad- 
vantage in resisting any attack. Their flank was 
protected by a dense thicket, which bordered the 
road that led from Kilauea, while the river effec- 
tually sheltered them on the right. Thus they were 
in a position either to retreat or to await a reinforce- 
ment. A messenger had been despatched by Tolta 
to Pohaku, as soon as he had made the discovery 
of the presence of Juan and Kiana. In the mean- 
time he had determined to remain where he was. 
Should Kiana attempt to recross the river, he could 
sally down upon him at advantage. 

Juan irritated at Kiana’s prudence, demanded 
that they should attack Tolta at once, and drive 
his men into the river. But that chief would not 
waver from his surer policy, for he had also sent to 
summon his warriors to join him. By keeping his 
foes in their present situation, they would, before 
long, be enabled to assault them, certain of success ; 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


253 


whereas now, a defeat or even a repulse would 
endanger the lives of those they had just rescued. 
Until Beatriz and Olmedo were within the Pa- 
honua, it would be risking too much. Juan acqui- 
esced in these measures, but swore he would not 
lose sight of Tolta while he lived. 

Pohaku, as we know, had pursued Tolta, de- 
ceived by the report of Hewahewa. But few of 
his warriors had been able to keep up with him. 
The messenger that Tolta had sent, and who 
might have explained their position, had missed 
him. The enraged chief came in sight on the main 
road, soon after the hostile parties had assumed 
their present positions. Perceiving Kiana and his 
warriors, he was still more confirmed in his belief of 
Tolta’s treachery ; believing that he had fled to re- 
join that chief and surprise him. Without stopping 
to parley or to ascertain the truth, he roared out to 
Tolta’s men to make way, and sprang forward with 
a ferocious look towards the Mexican. The war- 
riors, surprised and confused, for they had supposed 
he had come to their assistance, parted before him 
like water before a strong swimmer. Straight on 
towards Tolta he came foaming and cursing, and 
bidding him await his fate. The Mexican, at a 
loss to account for his sudden hate, supposed him 
gone mad and ordered his men to seize him, but 
they would have sooner, unarmed, crossed the tusks 
of the fiercest wild boar of the mountains, than 
have now put themselves in his path. With his 
spear poised, he stopped a few feet from Tolta, 
glaring upon him with bloodshot eyes. In another 
22 


254 


KIANA : 


second he would have driven it clean through him, 
but Tolta’s instinct of life was quicker than even 
his rage. Seeing his hopeless position, he sprang 
aside and the spear glanced on the turf, tearing 
up the ground, and finally burying itself deep into 
it, remained with its haft quivering in the air. 
Pohakn, uttering a fearful howl of disappointed 
rage, ran towards him, intending to seize him with 
his naked arms, and to twist his spine. The Mexi- 
can, whose movements were quick and subtle, again 
dodged him, and sprang upon the cliff*. As Pohaku 
rushed after, he aimed a stroke at him with his 
dagger, which would have reached his heart had it 
not struck upon an ivory ornament, which he wore 
upon his breast. The steel broke, and Tolta was 
left defenceless. The river was now his only 
chance. A precipice ninety feet high lay between 
him and it. With one bound he cleared its edge. 
So sudden was this movement and so desperate 
the leap, that all for the moment supposed him 
dashed to pieces on the rocks beneath. Striking 
the water, however, with his feet pointed like a 
wedge, and his arms clinging to his sides, he disap- 
peared, but soon rose and struck out towards the 
Pahonua. The rapid current bore him towards the 
shallower waters. Here his feet touching the sand, 
he was obliged to walk now and then, sinking as 
the water deepened and compelled him again to 
swim. Suddenly he was seen to throw his arms 
wildly in the air, and to shriek for help to the priests 
who were watching him from the walls of the 
Pahonua. They ran hastily towards the water’s 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


255 


edge to rescue him, but perceiving his position they 
dared not trust themselves on the treacherous sands. 
His exertions to reach them were desperate, but 
every struggle sank him deeper. He had touched a 
quicksand, and its vortex was slowly sucking him 
down. Inch by inch he disappeared, each moment 
to him an eternity. His entire life of baffled ambi- 
bition and revenge, with all the deeds of horror he 
had witnessed or participated in; all the better 
desires he had cherished and affections he had in- 
dulged ; all of his dark and troublous career became 
legible in letters of fire to his quickened memory, 
and mingling with an obscure and despairing fu- 
ture, the terrible mythology of his earliest belief 
conflicting with the hated creed of the Spaniard, 
harrowed his soul. Fiercely he struggled for a 
while with his fate. The water became discolored 
by the sand his frantic exertions to release himself 
stirred up. But nothing could now save him. 
Conscious of this he became more quiet. As the 
waters covered his face its latest look was towards 
a group of females just landing at no great distance 
above him. One among them had seen the leap 
and after struggle. Shuddering she covered her 
head with her mantle, and was then praying for the 
soul of her enemy, whose hands, even after his head 
had sunk out of sight, were seen for an instant 
turned imploringly towards her. 

This sight sobered even the rage of Pohaku, and 
arrested the attention of all. No sooner, however, 
was it over, than Juan, unable longer to restrain 
himself, called upon Kiana to avail himself of the 


256 


KIANA : 


confusion of their enemy and attack him. Setting 
the example, he sprung among them dealing fatal 
wounds at every stroke. Kiana and his men 
seconded him well, and the melee, it could scarcely 
be called battle, soon became general and bloody. 
Pohaku, who had regained his arms, rallied his men 
and fought with courage, but in skill he was not a 
match for his assailants, whose better discipline 
compensated for their inferior number. Three 
times, however, he foiled the desperate attack of 
the bravest of Kiana’s men, slaying several of them, 
and might at last have repulsed his foes had it not 
been for the impetuosity of Juan, who, calling to 
him to beware, closed upon the chief. Twice 
Pohaku succeeded in casting his javelin at him. 
The first blow he avoided by an active movement 
of his body, but the weapon whizzed so near as to 
bruise his left arm. The second javelin pierced his 
helmet, as he fortunately stumbled over a corpse, 
otherwise it would have brained him. Before he 
could recover himself, Pohaku had sprung forward 
with an uplifted war-club, which, with terrible force, 
was about descending on his head, when Kiana 
intercepted the blow by his mace. The warriors 
on both side sprang to the rescue of their chiefs, 
and in the rush Kiana’s men were borne back a 
few paces. He, however, held his ground, beating 
off his assailants, thus giving time to Juan to rise. 
“Leave this chief to me, he is my foe,” he cried to 
Kiana, and advancing once more upon him he 
easily parried his furious blows, and at every thrust 
drew blood, until watching a moment when Poha- 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


257 


ku from sheer exhaustion struck less quickly and 
forcibly, Juan plunged his sword through his breast. 
His fall disheartened his men, and they began to 
recoil before the renewed efforts of their foes, when 
loud shouts were heard from the road, and soon 
after a regular body of warriors, outnumbering 
greatly all on both sides engaged in the present 
fray, marched upon the field. 

It was Hewahewa with the warriors he had 
assembled after the hasty departure of Pohaku, 
whose soldiers recognizing them, re-formed in their 
rear, and awaited the orders of the high-priest. 

Kiana drew his men off from the pursuit and 
arrayed them into a wedge-shaped phalanx, with 
its rear towards the stream. Juan and himself oc- 
cupied the welau^ or point which must receive the 
brunt of the onset, should an attack be made. On 
the other side of the river his followers who had 
escorted Beatriz over, seeing his danger, came back 
with the canoes and joined him. Thus he had it 
in his power to retreat, presenting the while a 
formidable front to his enemy. 

Hewahewa, having learned the state of affairs, 
was not desirous of pushing him to extremity. His 
own immediate rivals, Tolta and Pohaku, were 
dead, — no small gain to him, — but his daughter 
was virtually in the power of Kiana. He was 
therefore disposed to terms. Sending a herald 
bearing a branch of the ti plant used as a flag of 
truce, he proposed a parley. To this Kiana assent- 
ed, and it was finally agreed that Kiana should 
return to his own territories unmolested, Liliha 
22 * 


258 


KIANA : 


remaining as a hostage, until he was on equal 
terms with his antagonist, after which they would 
treat for a general peace. Upon those terms, 
Kiana withdrew to his own side, while Hewahewa 
encamped where he was. 


A TKADITION OF HAWAII. 


259 


CHAPTER XXVI. 

Sudden arose 
lanthe’s soul; it stood 
All beautiful in naked purity. 

The perfect semblance of its bodily frame. 

Instinct with inexpressible beauty and grace, 

Each stain of earthliness 
Had passed away; it reassumed 
Its native dignity, and stood 
Immortal.’* 

Queen Mab. 

Beatriz was once more at her home by the sea- 
side. Liliha was always near her. Since their first 
meeting the loving forest-girl had grown still dearer 
to her. When her father claimed her, she pleaded 
so hard and showed so much distress at the thought 
of leaving her white sister that he consented she 
should remain for the time being. Kiana and the 
high-priest were at peace. The latter had more 
than once visited Olmedo, for the double purpose 
of talking with him and seeing his daughter. By 
this interchange of civilities and the impression 
which the superior condition of Kiana’s people 
made upon him, added to the more enlarged views 
derived from his intercourse with the Spaniards, 
Hewahewa became, if not a believer in any creed, 


260 


KIANA : 



a more humane and wiser man. By his influence, 
backed as it always was when necessary with the 
arms of Kiana, his people partially gave up their 
predatory habits, and paid more attention to their 
fisheries and the culture of their soil. It was great 
gain also to establish an amicable intercourse be- 
tween tribes so long bitterly hostile to each other. 
Instead of warlike expeditions to secure prisoners 
for sacrifice and to plunder, Hewahewa’s people 
now came often to trade. A commerce was grow- 
ing up, which later led to the establishment of 
regular fairs, the principal of which was held at 
stated intervals on the banks of the Wailuku river, 
in the territory of Kiana. Here the products of the 
soil and the manufactures of the several districts of 
Hawaii, each of which from peculiarity of soil or 
climate, or from the skill and industry of its inhabi- 
tants, could claim some local advantage, were 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


261 


brought and interchanged. A paid police pre- 
served order, and public inspectors decided upon 
the qualities of the merchandise, or acted as arbi- 
trators in case of dispute, while the numerous 
pedlars by their cries and importunity would not 
have discredited their brethren of Europe. 

But this fact is foreign to my story, except so far 
as showing how soon and rapidly commercial in- 
dustry supplants the fighting principle, if it be 
allowed a fair chance, even among the passionate 
and sensuous aborigines of Polynesia. 

Beatriz looked wan and feeble. More than a 
month had gone by since her rescue. Before her 
capture she had been gradually failing, but almost 
imperceptibly and with such an increased delicacy 
of outline and purity of complexion, that while 
Olmedo and Juan had praised her increasing beau- 
ty, neither had noticed that it was sapping her life. 
The exposure and excitement consequent upon 
the violence of Tolta, acting upon an already 
enfeebled frame, had at last brought her very low. 
Daily since her return had she been compelled to 
shorten her walks. At the same time her voice 
grew weaker, but gained ever in sweetness, and 
the flush upon her face became deeper. Still so 
long as she could go out she went, leaning upon 
Liliha or Olmedo, to look upon the scenery she so 
loved, and to breathe the balmy sea air beneath the 
palms. Juan clung to her as to a life-buoy. Care- 
less and impetuous as he had always been, he 
loved his sister fervently. To see her pine day by 
day, her flesh wasting as disease claimed it, the 


262 


KIANA : 


rich blood fading from her cheek never to return, 
each embrace growing more languid as life ebbed, 
well nigh drove him mad. Bitterly he blamed him- 
self for his absence on that fatal day. Even the 
horror of Tolta’s death did not check his curses upon 
him. To Olmedo he would listen in deference as he 
talked of the consolations of religion, but escaping 
to the woods, he would there sit hours in silent 
agony brooding over his coming loneliness, and 
fiercely resenting any intrusion. Liliha alone could 
quiet his grief. Knowing his habits, she would 
sometimes steal from the side of Beatriz and go 
after him. Taking his hand, without speaking, she 
would lead him to his sister, and the two would sit 
by her in sympathetic sadness, watching her every 
motion, and endeavoring to anticipate every want. 
While thus occupied he was in some degree sooth- 
ed. His sister was still with him. The Blessed 
Mother of God might yet restore her. He would 
be so lonely when she was gone. Never until now 
had he felt how large a portion bf his happiness was 
derived from her presence; how much he needed her 
calm sustaining spirit, her untiring kindness, and 
above all her exhaustless fountain of forgiveness. 
Was all this so soon to be taken away? Cold 
shudders passed through his heart as the gloom of 
certainty shut down upon him, and starting up 
abruptly he would go back to the forest. Giving 
time for the paroxysm to subside, Liliha at a sign 
from Beatriz would again bring him back. “ My 
dear brother,” she would say, “sorrow not so, I may 
yet live; I feel stronger to-day. Take my hand ; 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


263 


see ! it is not very thin ; and my face, is it not a 
little fuller ? It seems so to me. Once you know, 
before we left Spain, I was as ill, but I got well. 
Kiss me and stay by me while I sleep a little. 
When I wake we will talk more. I have much to 
say, and yet I cannot speak it, when you are so 
sad. Another kiss, dear Juan ; you have ever been 
a kind brother to me.” Thus she would cheer him 
with a hope that at times dawned upon herself, in 
spite of her rapid decline. 

Often Kiana came in, and sat gazing at her until 
the big tears followed one another down his cheeks. 
Seemingly unconscious of them, he would remain 
without uttering a word for hours, striving only to 
give some order which he thought might promote 
her comfort. To him the fading away of the mai- 
den was like the loss of sunlight to the landscape. 
The earth was all there, but its joy and glory were 
alike gone. 

How was Olmedo ? Calm. Never had Beatriz 
appeared to him so lovely as now. He had seen 
too many death-beds not to know that she was 
shortly to pass away. Every change in her aspect 
was closely watched, and all that his experience 
could suggest done to postpone, if it could not 
avert, her death. But he neither sought to deceive 
himself nor her. If Juan felt himself alone, how 
much more must he whose soul was so interwoven 
with the dying woman’s ! Tenderly and truly had 
their love and faith kept pace in all the event- 
ful scenes they had passed through. Tempted, they 
had conquered. Their hearts had recognized their 


264 


KIANA : 


inalienable birthright — to love — yet they.had not 
sinned. Now the spiritual was triumphing over 
the material. As the body grew more helpless, the 
spirit became indeed stronger. This he saw. How 
could he then sorrow ; when, with the eye of faith, 
he beheld infinite joy expanding in her soul? 
Mourn for himself, left so solitary in his earthly 
pilgrimage, he must, and did, but he rejoiced for 
her. At no time had he been more earnest in his 
religious duties than during her illness. A solemn 
responsibility rested upon him to be even more 
faithful to her pure aspirations and gentle faith. 
He was with her also more than ever. As she 
drew nigh her departure, every trace of the harsher 
doctrines of her church passed from her mind, as 
the dead leaves of autumn give way to the living 
growth of spring. Fed by the vital currents of 
faith and love that flowed into her soul from that 
world her spirit was now piercing, his mind grew 
likewise, and he perceived how that separation in 
body could prove union in spirit. Thus he was 
comforted and sustained. He now felt that divine 
wisdom and love were given in some degree to all 
men ; that all nature was imbued with their prin- 
ciples ; that both nature and man were working 
out the great problem of happiness, through a slow 
and laborious progress, governed by universal laws 
existing from a beneficent and impartial deity. 
Polemical creeds were the shackles of intellect and 
the graves of the soul. There was but one creed, 
viz., that God made all men, and none had a right 
to arrogate to themselves the way of salvation. 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


265 


Of him to whom much was given, it was true that 
much would be required. God was always reveal- 
ing himself to the inquiring soul. No age or race 
had a right to claim a final revelation or a mono- 
poly of inspiration. Truth was as free as the air 
to all who could or would receive it, but it was like 
gold in the mine, dark and hidden until labor 
brought it to the sunlight, stamped it with the die 
of reason, and put it into circulation. All new coin 
was looked on with suspicion, but when made 
familiar became as current as the old. All truth 
was partial, because its degree depended upon the 
quality and capacity of the individual mind. Per- 
fect truth is the divine atmosphere. No man can 
breathe that now, but might hope to attain it 
through infinite progress. Hence among men uni- 
versal toleration of opinions should prevail. The 
best minds here were but infants in knowledge. 
Striving there should be, but it should consist in 
mutual charity and forbearance ; the patient wait- 
ing of each soul, and patient working out of its 
duties in faith, for individual and general life were 
linked together for a harmonious end. If disap- 
pointment to him were needful for another’s good, 
he was ready to bid it welcome, and from out of 
self-sacrifice to rise the stronger, man. He saw in 
Beatriz’s death her spiritual promotion. In strength- 
ening her to meet it, he was best preparing himself 
for those consolations which as necessarily result 
from moral laws as does gravitation from the phy- 
sical. Therefore Olmedo looked upon the present 
trial as the beautiful working out of the final hap- 
23 


266 


KIANA : 


piness of Beatriz and himself. To him she was 
the divine messenger through whom life and light 
had come. Talk not of the power of passionate 
love I Its selfish flame burns itself out, leaving 
nothing but ashes. Olmedo loved Beatriz, but it 
was now with a love in which passion was sub- 
limated into purity ; strengthened by self-sacrifice 
and made immortal by faith. What, then, were a 
few years of time to him who already saw into 
eternity ! 

One day Beatriz felt so much stronger that she 
asked to be carried to the spot in the forest, where 
she and Olmedo had met when they were taken off 
by Tolta. Besides her litter-bearers and women, 
who retired a little way after making up for her an 
easy couch, she was alone with him. It was the 
loveliest hour of the twenty-four, drawing towards 
sunset, just as the sun’s rays, becoming mellow, 
were casting a veil of soft and purple light, tinged 
with golden radiance, over sea and land. The air 
was as warm and healthful as an infant’s breath. 

Beautiful as was the place, it had never looked 
so beautiful to her as now. The birds were twit- 
tering in their leafy homes, and, coming close to 
her as to an old friend, warbled a welcome before 
they bade good night to the sinking sun, or from 
the topmost branches sang their vespers. All old 
memories came back to her, save only the sad one 
connected with Tolta, which she seemed now to 
have forgotten. She thought only of the many talks 
they had had here, on subjects dear to both ; their 
mutually expressed longings for the familiar faces 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


267 


and scenes of their native land, and their plans and 
hopes when forced to feel that they would no more 
see them ; the sadness that stole over her spirit as 
she realized that she must live and die upon the 
island without one of her sex, born of her race, to 
share her solitude ; how the good father comforted 
her with holy words, and finally her love spoke and 
his spoke, and they each knew the heart’s secret of 
the other, and both trembled, but grew stronger 
from prayer and faith, and now could look back 
upon their past without a blush, and forward with 
hope in an eternal union ; all this, and much else 
that was endeared to her, came bright and joyful 
to her recollection. She recalled to Olmedo scenes 
and words full of gladness to both. Her voice was 
much clearer and stronger, and her manner so 
cheerful, that he was borne away on the pleasant 
tide, and thought only of their present happiness, 
without heeding that it was the illumination of a 
mortal on the confines of the spirit-world. 

Suddenly a shadow passed over her features, and 
she told Olmedo that she would rest awhile. Clos- 
ing her eyes, she sank into a gentle slumber that 
lasted for half an hour. Bright smiles chased each 
other in such quick succession on her face, that she 
seemed to her watcher to be already living in 
another sphere. As he gazed almost in awe upon 
a happiness that gave him a closer insight into 
the joys of a soul communing with its God, Beatriz 
awoke. Turning her eyes vacantly upon him, then 
looking around upon the scenery still lovely, for the 
brief twilight was in its prime, she was for a mo- 


268 


KIANA : 


ment bewildered. “ Where am I ; is this earth, — 
am I back again ? How dark it seems,” said she. 
“ Give me your hand, Olmedo, — I see you now. 
I have had such a dream, — shall I tell it to you ? ” 
Olmedo begged her not to exhaust herself, but 
to wait until she was more equal to talking. “ No, 
Olmedo, I must tell it now. I am quite strong. 
Indeed a new life is in my veins, but something 
bids me be quick. When I closed my eyes it seemed 
to me I was dead. My spirit slowly left my body, 
and rested in the air above you, who were watch- 
ing it so tenderly. How I wanted to embrace you 
and speak my love, but I could not. Soon a bright 
form came, so bright that my eyes were at first too 
dazzled to be able to look upon it. But as that 
wore off, I knew my sister Domitila, who you 
remember, died before we left Spain. She wel- 
comed me to my new home, as she called it, and 
took me away with her. How we went I could 
not tell, but we were borne on without effort on our 
own part, by an unseen power, and yet it seemed to 
come from ourselves. Such scenery, such beauty, 
those loving faces crying, ‘welcome, dear sister.’ 
Would that I could describe them. Joy filled my 
heart. I was amid all things loveliest and best, 
such as of late you and I have so often faintly 
conceived as we talked of heaven. Oh I how real 
they now were ! I was a spirit, yet I had a body 
and senses that gave me exquisite pleasure. Every 
emotion and effort was increasing happiness. How 
clearly my soul saw into divine wisdom and love. 
I thought it strange at first that I did not see the 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


269 


Holy Virgin and the Saints, and asked where they 
were. ‘ Such as we are now they were,’ replied my 
sister; ‘they have passed on to greater glory through 
the sure operation of the laws of progress. Ye do 
wrong on earth to worship those who once were 
but human beings like yourselves, — whose sole 
claim to honor is, that they were obedient to the 
divine will, diligent to understand, and quick to 
practise. It is because you have lived on earth a 
blameless life, charitable and useful, enjoying exist- 
ence, cultivating purity, seeking truth, actively good, 
and ever aspiring to know the divine will, patient 
and sincere, through doubt and ignorance trusting 
in the great good, that you now witness these mys- 
teries. Soon they will be as much yours as mine. 
Go back to earth and tell your companion what you 
have seen. He will understand the message. Bid 
him be patient and zealous, for he. has much earthly 
work yet to do, but for you, my sister, I shall soon 
return. I have watched over you as you will over 
Olmedo since we parted in form, striving to impress 
your heart with the love of our world. It was an 
easy task, and now it is finished, and we will kneel 
in future together at the feet of older spirits, to learn 
of them still further the way of truth and life.’ So 
saying, she floated away like a sunbeam, and I 
awoke. 

“ What think you of it, Olmedo? Was it not 
sweet? There is no death; joy! joy! Ever shall 
I watch over you with my sister until you too pass 
through the gate of heaven. Look ! look ! there 
she comes. Oh ! how beautiful. Many others are 
23 * 


270 


KIANA : 


with her now. I see their rainbow robes. I hear 
their voices, — they call me ; oh ! listen to the mu- 
sic. Seraphs are striking their harps, — the air is 
filled with harmony, — do you not hear it too? 
Where are you, Olmedo ? Touch me. I do not 
see you, but I see them, — that white light, — how 
glorious all appears ; how melodious their speech ! 
lam here, dear sister, — quick, — take me,” — and 
thus her sweet spirit went home. 

Olmedo was stupefied. Not a word had he lost, 
feebly and brokenly as the last words had been 
uttered. Yet to see her go from him as her spirit 
became so ravishingly beautiful, was more than 
even he could well bear. There she lay in death’s 
stillness. The sun had gone down, the wind was 
hushed, her maidens looked on in speechless grief, 
not a leaf stirred, all was silent, — silent as the 
grave ! No ! there is no silence in the grave to the 
believer. 

Before him it is true was the form by which he 
had known Beatriz, soon to be dust. The eloquent 
eye, the laughing lip, the blushing cheek were never 
again in flesh to speak to him. Must we not allow 
him a moment’s anguish as he heard their silence ? 
Mourn, monk ; — thou art still human ! Grief is 
permitted thee. Many and lonely must thy days of 
pilgrimage yet be ! 

He shed no tears, but leaned his face on the 
bosom of the corpse, and there groaned. A light 
seemed to pass before his eyes. He looked up. 
“ Merciful God, am I too a Spirit ? ” burst from his 
lips as he gazed. There, floating in the air, and 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


271 


almost touching him, he saw her he had just lost. 
She was an angel now. As she smiled upon him, 
he thought he heard a voice say, “ Farewell for a 
little while,” — and then the stars only were twink- 
ling above him. 


272 


KIANA : 


CHAPTER XXVIII. 


“ Yet human spirit ! bravely hold thy course. 

Let virtue teach these faintly to pursue 
The gradual paths of an aspiring change ; 

For birth and life and death, and that strange state 
Before the naked soul has formed its home, 

All tend to perfect happiness. 

Queen Mab. 

In my opinion, I should stop here. Each reader, 
so it seems to me, can readily conjecture the subse- 
quent fate of the survivors. But a voice over my 
shoulder whispers. No. We are still curious and 
quite unable to trace their after history without 
your aid. Recollect, you are familiar with the lo- 
cality, customs, and above all the traditions which 
first brought the actors to your notice. Where 
everything varies so greatly from our experiences, 
the result must be more or less of an enigma. 

And why should it not be ? Mystery will give 
the story a charm beyond the power of my pen. 
Beatriz has gone up to heaven, not in chariots of 
fire, but in the arms of love. Well would it be if 
we could there follow her and partake of her felicity. 
“ A little while,” — yes, in a little while the call of 
each of us will be heard. May our welcome be like 
hers. 

As I cannot follow her into the scenes of her new 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


273 


duties and joys, I leave them to the imagination. 
To gratify any lurking curiosity as to the others, I 
will briefly relate all that came to my knowledge 
after that — to her — great gain. 

Kiana proved a sincere mourner. The character 
of Beatriz had so impressed him that he never after 
sought companionship among the females of his 
race. He grew to be a silent, reserved man, kind 
to all, but indisposed to interest himself in the usual 
duties of his station. Much of his time he passed 
alone, so that his people, in their poetical fancy, in 
speaking of him among themselves, called him 
Kamehameha, “the lonely one.” To Olmedo he 
particularly attached himself, and as he soon neg- 
lected the religion of his ancestors more than ever, 
it was supposed that he had imbibed many of his 
views. When he died, which took place at the 
expiration of ten years, there was a wailing over 
all Hawaii, such as had never been heard before. 



274 


KIANA : 


The people all grieved for him as for one they 
deeply loved. At his dying request they abstained 
from the usual barbarous demonstrations, by which 
they were wont to mark their sorrow. There were 
no sacrifice of property, no shaving of heads, no 
knocking out of teeth, or self-inflicted wounds. 
Above all, his memory was honored by a strict 
abstinence from the usual saturnalia, allowed on 
the death of a chief of the highest rank, during 
which sensuality and the darkest passions were 
permitted to riot unchecked. A decorous funeral 
took place, at which all the people assisted, with a 
solemn state heretofore unknown in their annals. 

Hewahewa became a powerful and sagacious 
ruler. By the influence of Olmedo he was induced 
to mitigate many of the cruel rites of his mythology, 
though the belief of his people in Pele remained 
unshaken. The good monk had therefore the satis- 
faction to see that humanity gained by his presence 
in Hawaii, though his opinions affected but a few 
of the most intelligent minds. Indeed, so satisfied 
had he himself become of the inefficiency of strictly 
dogmatic teachings, that he seldom attempted to 
expound the mysteries of the Roman creed, but 
confined his discourses to such general ideas of the 
nature of divinity and the absurdity of idol worship, 
as might be comprehended by the simplest mind. 
The seed which he thus sowed was not without 
fruit. It slowly ripened during rather more than 
two centuries, gradually weaning the masses from 
their belief in demonology, until a short time before 
the advent of the American missionaries, in 1820, 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


275 


the nation discarded paganism and destroyed their 
idols. Hevvahewa, the then high-priest, had in- 
herited much of the inquiring, skeptical spirit of 
his ancestor. Publicly resigning his office, he was 
the first to apply the torch to the temples and 
their sacred contents. The accumulated gifts of 
national piety through the long centuries of heathen- 
ism were consumed in a day, while he and others 
proclaimed their belief in “ one only Great God, 
dwelling in the heavens.” 

Juan’s grief was violent, but he recovered before 
long his natural tone. As he could not recall the 
dead, he interested himself in the living, and was 
ever the same adventurous, impetuous being, 
admired for his gallantry and beloved for his 
generosity. Before his sister died, Liliha’s artless 
sympathy had touched his heart. After that event, 
he was more than ever drawn to her, and she 
to him. There was something in her youth and 
character so different from the wanton beauty 
and unrefined minds of Hawaiian women in gen- 
eral, that it commanded his respect. He must have 
some one to love, now his sister was gone, and he 
loved her. She returned his love as freely, and truly 
as the wood-dove returns its mate’s. There was 
no coyness or affected reserve. His manly quali- 
ties had now won her heart, still warm with its 
devotion to Beatriz, and she told him so, and gave 
it to him with her all. Juan asked of Olmedo the 
Roman Catholic rite to sanctify their union. Li- 
liha assented, much wondering at first why the 


276 


KIANA : 


words of another were requisite to bind them closer 
together. They loved each other faithfully. How 
then could the bond be made dearer or truer? 
It was difficult to make her understand the ne- 
cessity of the ceremonies and pledges with which 
Christians wed. With or without it, however, she 
w^as the same faithful, sincere, joyous creature, 
right in her instincts and quick in her perceptions. 
From their mingled blood descended several noted 
chiefs. 

What of Olmedo ? He lived long and usefully. 
The dying vision of Beatriz was never absent from 
his thoughts. It had become a holy message to 
him. Never did the good man let go by an oppor- 
tunity for a kind act or comforting word. His 
counsels and instruction were freely given to all 
who applied. He lived apart from all others as he 
had always done, the same solitary chaste man of 
God. So wrapt was he ever in his reflections, in- 
wardly conversing with his spirit-bride, that among 
the natives he was known as Kapiolani, “ the cap- 
tive of heaven.” 

Beatriz was buried on the spot where she died. 
Olmedo erected a cross over her remains with the 
simple inscription in Spanish, “ 8he is not hereP 
He had consigned her dust to its mother earth, but 
the spirit had gone back to the God who gave it. 
Daily at sunset he prayed over the grave. Often 
that dear face came back to greet and cheer him, 
and as he gazed, the same lowly whispered words, 
“ for a little while, ’’ fell on his ear. He would 


A TRADITION OF HAWAII. 


277 


then go back with fresh courage and hope to his 
earthly home, fulfilling its duties as a sacred trust. 
When he died the tradition does not tell. The 
last it says of the strange priest is, that he was 
“ the captive of heaven.” 


THE END. 


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